Break in the Day
by Ghost Writer no. 3
Summary: Original one drabble, now a series of Destiny Trio drabbles. It will features the relationship growing, their future, possible their child or children, and perhaps beyond. Months up for debate.
1. A break in the Day

Just a cute little drabble from a possible future of our dear Destiny Trio. Also a practice for me to write for Sora. I feel like I have problems with him. It's only about two pages, so I figured why not?

Disclaimer: Do not own Kingdom Hearts.

---

It was moving.

Sora pressed his head against Kairi's stomach, smiling at the subtle movements. He was sure he could feel its little heartbeat. His gaze turned up at Kairi's face. It flowed with relaxation, as her body position showed as well; one arm tucked under her head and one set across her bosom. Her eyes were fixed towards the sky. Sora brushed his thumb along Riku's hand, the large palm laid next to his noggin. His gazed turned to the said hand and up the slack arm to the rest of Riku. The man in question had his eyes closed while laying flat on the ground. Sora would have thought he was asleep if not for the shift in the hand that moments ago he brushed. It now slide it's way above Sora's own and stayed to rest when it full topped his.

Sora smiled. If anyone looked at him, they would think he was drunk. But he was really happy at this very moment. Like, really. The baby moved again. According to what Kairi figured, it was about five months along. Meaning in less then four months, a new child would be around.

He heard little feet walk up to them. The ground shifted ever so much. A small body plopped down next to Riku. Sora turned his head over.

The girl gathered a large number of flowers in her grasp. Riku made no move from his spot, but used his free hand to brush against his daughter's identical colored locks. Sora grinned. "He kiddo, come over here."

Curious violet eyes turned to him as the three year old child crawled over to her daddy. Sora also spied an aqua eye peeking open to observe, but nothing else. Once the little one was between Riku and Kairi, Sora lifted his head up from the stomach and grabbed her tiny hand and placed it on her mother's stomach. Kairi shifted and giggled lightly, now looking down at those touching her skin.

"Wait just a moment." Sora said when he felt his child start to pull away. He hoped the baby didn't decide to just go to sleep on them.

But oh, there was a flutter. The child frowned for a moment, but soon the expression went back to light wonder. "What's that?" She asked in her high, sweet voice.

"That's your brother or sister moving around." Sora informed. He rubbed the woman for good measure or luck or something.

The girl frowned again. When she smiled, she looked like Riku. When she looked sad, she looked like Kairi. The frown, on the other hand, was unique to her. "Does it ever sleep in mommy's tummy?" She asked innocently.

Sora opened his mouth, but paused and closed his mouth. He then opened it again, but a slight swipe over his ears made him turn and glare at Riku. The older man shook his head and replied, "No, they're awake right now. They stay in mommy's tummy because it's safe and they are still tiny. It is like a Kangaroo pouch.

"Oh." The girl rubbed the stomach with just a brush of lithe fingers. "Can they hear me?"

"Maybe" Sora said hopefully. Riku already closed his eyes, but a gentle smile, rare for him, was set on his face.

The toddler looked at the midsection for a few moments before leaning over and whispering, "Hello." She then crawled up next the upper part of Kairi. The woman, seeing her daughter's movements, leaned on her arms and reached over to the girl's forgotten flowers. She then started to sort through the piles of petals and stems.

Soon the girls were working to make necklaces and reefs and whatever other organic jewelry they could think up. Sora had fully rolled off Kairi and just stared at them for a moment. He felt a small knock on his head and glared at Riku yet again. Riku merely glanced over at the other boy and nodded his head. Sora under the small movements and slide up on Kairi's other side and watch their child. The girl plucked a few flowers every now and then and sprinkled the petals on the abdomen (for the babies).

Kairi wanted a boy this time, happy to have gotten her first born daughter already. Riku thought she was carrying twins, but sure that they were Sora's. As for Sora...Sora didn't care. Of course, he care about any future children; He wanted him, her, or them to be healthy. But they all wanted to be surprised for this one and he just wanted it. He remember when Kairi was pregnant with their first. He had been scared of it all, but it hit eventually; they were going to have a baby. It was hitting again, but not so loud and not so scary this time. They had one kid already; they could have another one...or two.

---

It's so freakin' cute. But sometimes you need to let it out.


	2. I had this idea

These are the side stories of my sorikai obsession. Just drabbles. If I get an idea in my head I'll write it out, but they probably are going to be very short. And I am not sure when I put up another one, but I plan to get one up at least once a month.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts in any regards.

* * *

It was Sora's idea of course. He blushed when he said it. Not on purpose and not in the context it sounded. And it was not an idea…just a thought. Ideas meant to actually try it.

"Let's all sleep together."

The tension since the shared piece of fruit left, but nothing moved forward. Whatever the trio decided to be hung in a limbo.

But Sora said it. The thought was planted. His thoughts of linked hands on the beach, together in the sun set. Kairi blushed at small imaginations, wondering if it would be appropriate for a girl to sleep next to or in-between two boys. Riku's dreams consisted of fantasies that made him agitated because these new one include another male and not two females.

As always, Riku made the thought an idea.

"You know what would be fun? A sleep over."

The plan went underway. It started out with it being just the boys. It would be at Sora's house. It was not the first sleep over they had. But Riku kept his distance since the time. The idea made him uncomfortable and still with questions. However, the thought of the three of them…it seemed…correct. It would work.

So when Riku came over, Kairi followed. Sora's mom let them. They all played, with video-games matches between the boys and Kairi cheering for whomever was behind (with the occasional junk-food bribe to change her favor), some peanut-butter recipes as a contest, talked about friends in the Disney Kingdom, then they all watch movies down stairs on the fold-out couch. Sora's mom would be gone. By the time she got back, both Kairi and Riku will be faking sleep. Kairi would be on the couch and Riku would be in the chair…

The plan has flaws. What if Kairi's parents realized that she was not sleeping at Selphie's? Or if Sora's mom calls and they demanded for her to come home?

It works out; Sora's mother came home and saw the children appeared to be out. She watched them for a moment, before nodding and laughing to herself. Moving quietly, she headed to her room. Soon, soft snores reach their ears. Riku and Kairi open their eyes and look up-stairs. Riku just called her to Sora's Room. Kairi climbed the stairs. The older boy grinned.

Sora fell asleep.

Kairi felt almost relieved and went to slap him awake. Riku guided the half-sleeping boy back to his bed. They all laid down, they stayed that way, waiting for something.

They were nervous at first, none of them really looking at one another. Sora curled near his wall, too tired to do anything and too scared to make a move. Kairi wiggled in the middle, small enough to lay flat on her back and stare at the ceiling without comment. Riku barley keeps on the bed at the edge, unsure if this is something he wants. None of them knew what to really do.

Kairi made the first move.

It's was a familiar gesture, really. She took each of her hand and ran it threw each boys' hair. She had done this before in comforting them, but this was more…intimate. It was also a little uncomfortable to bend her arms this way; the bed was small and she has to twist her wrist to brush their hair at an odd angle, but she did it. Sora starts twitching while Riku goes stiff. She really did not like either reaction.

She eventually placed both her hands around Riku's waist, yet moves to connect her back against Sora.

"Move a little closer."

And so they do. Sora doesn't move much, but he tangles his feet with Kairi and Riku's. Riku scooted back, but stopped when the girl stopped moving. He also gripped Sora's hand when they slipped over him.

Everyone's breath is a little faster. Someone always shift, even though they all are a little tired. But they were doing it finally. That meant something.

The next morning, Sora unwound himself in his sleep, already half-laying on Kairi. Riku half-laid off of the bed, looking rather rumbled. Sora's mother peaked into the room, a hand on her hip and a smile on her lips. "You kids are a little too old for a sleep-over, aren't you?"

Riku's head popped up. "We are?" He did not quite understand the comment.

Kairi chuckled a little.

Sora sat up, but then half-crawled over Kairi, who squeaked. "Hey, are those blue-berry pancakes?"

The woman just rolled her eyes with a smile. "Alright guys, get up. Guess I better feed you, huh?"

* * *

Is it good? Is it cute? I plan on even going to the adult years and beyond.


	3. The New Haircut

I have been working hard on other things, but I promised to do one of these about once a month. I'm a couple months behind, so I've decided to take a break and just write a bit more of this. I have caught up, besides checking. This would be March's.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

---

It was not uncommon for a boyfriend to follow a girlfriend and wait for her while she was getting her hair done. They may grumble about it and get easily bored, but if the salonist did their job right, seeing their girl come out could make them at least stare, if not make them go 'Wow.'

Or at least let said boyfriend had the ability to fantasias about a new woman with a different hair color.

"Riku, I'm booored."

In Riku's case, he not only had to wait for his girl, but he also had to baby-sit his boy. Not quite a fun time considering Sora had the attention of a goldfish. Riku let out a sigh and turned to him. "You could have waited for Kairi to get done at the island. I said you should have done that."

"But I wanna see it, too!" Sora said with a little pout.

"It wouldn't change in fifteen minutes."

"It might…you know. Rain could suddenly come down and ruin it and then she'd be sad and then we would have to be sad with her." He and Riku looked up at the sky. There were a few little puffy clouds in the sky, nothing to indicate any rain in the future.

"As…" What were the words Riku could use? "…Thoughtful as that is, you do realize she is just getting a hair-cut. No dyes, no perms, no…whatever else anyone can put in their hair. Just…cutting some of it off."

"Oh." Sora stated, thought about how it applied, then shrugged. "Well, it does not mean she might change her mind. Besides, we both gotta be here. You know…because that's what we are suppose to do."

"…You were watching the talk shows again, weren't you?"

"Hey, if I come into the room while my mom is watching them, then it's not my fault."

"Mmmhmmm…" Riku stretched his hands behind his head and leaned against the building. "I don't see why she wants a hair-cut."

"Well, I wouldn't trust Selphie with a pair of scissors. I don't care if she practiced on her dolls. That should mean she should not be given anything sharp." Sora frowned to himself about pictures of their jumper friend with daggers. Scary.

"Not what I mean." Riku replied, though he suddenly pondered about Selphie with his own Soul Eater, except it somehow turned pink. He shook off that thought and finished the first one, "I meant, why does Kairi want a hair-cut? It's perfect the way it is."

"I guess girls like to change their hair. Fashion or whatever." Sora remarked, folding his arms behind his head. "Though I think it got a little too long." It took a few moments for Sora to feel the glare Riku sent him. "What?"

"Her hair is not too long. It's appropriate length and looks great on her." Riku stated harshly.

"Not really." The glare came back and Sora shook his hand, "I don't mean it looks bad on her, but…I just think her old hair was cuter."

"Maybe it was 'cuter,' but girls are suppose to have long hair. Makes them look lovely and effeminate. Makes them look beautiful…and…nice and…pretty." And Riku spaced out for a moment, imaging all the pretty, longhaired woman he had seen. "And especially on red heads. Her hair's like a long river of wine. Just want to run your fingers through it. It's such a waste for it not to be long." After getting out of the sensory day-dream, Riku cleared his throat, "It also makes Kairi seem more gentler and she actually looks like a young lady instead of a child. Very…proper. You understand?"

"…You just compared Kairi's hair to booze."

"That's a metaphor, you jack-"

"Okay, okay, yes, all that is find and dandy, but, you know, it's just…you know." Sora waved his hands around, hoping to grab ahold of a response.

"No, I don't know, what?" Riku stared him down at the challenge

"Because…because…" Sora thought about his words carefully, "It…doesn't frame her face right!"

A paused, since Sora shouted that last part and a few people stared, wondering what the crazy boy was screaming about. Riku waved everyone who was staring a nervous hello. Once everyone shrugged it off and went on their merry little way, Riku palmed his forehead and glance with only on eye and Sora. "What?" He knew he might not like this answer.

"No, I'm sticking by what I said. I mean, just…sort hair frames her chin and if you noticed, the long hair pulls away from her eyes. She's got pretty eyes! And um…her grin, yes! It doesn't look right with long hair!"

"…How long have you thought about it?" Riku knew he would regret asking, but ask he did.

"…Since she told us she was getting a hair-cut."

"Ah huh…" Riku licked the roof of his mouth, setting his arms against his chest, and tapping his foot. "Her face looks fine, her eyes looks fine, and her smile looks fine. Quit making up excuses."

"I'm not! I'm just saying…short hair is cute on her!" Sora huffed, and them mumbled, "Besides, long hair is impractical."

"Sora, I have long hair."

Sora turned and gave him a dead-banned look. "You're using yourself as the argument. Who's the one who complains about missin' something' because _their _bangs are in their eyes?!"

"Oh, what, should I go with whatever you have?" Riku made a rude waving jester to the top of Sora's head.

"My hair has character."

"You're hair grows up, not down."

"I don't complain about my hair getting in the way. However, you did. So." And Sora proceeded to stick his tongue out at him.

Riku glared at him, took a deep breath, then smirked, figuring out a way to slightly get back at him, "Hey, I didn't here you comment about the length of my hair when you were pulling it while-"

Yep, that got the brunet flustered, "Okay, fine! You look very pretty with long hair. All I'm saying is Kairi's looked prettier and everything when it was shorter like when we were kids. But that's my opinion. Your's can be different. Fine."

There was a pause between them. Then

"…We just fought about hair, didn't we?" Sora asked.

"Yep."

Another pause.

"That was pretty stupid." Riku commented.

"Yep."

Yet another pause. Riku took a deep breath and let his arms drop to the side. He glanced sideways at Sora and said, "Here…how about we agree we wouldn't want her to change its color, alright?"

"Oh, yah right!" That took Sora out of his confusing angry stupor. "I like the red. It's sooo…" The boy thought about correct word to use.

"Different?" Riku supplied.

"I was gonna say red, but your suggestion's better."

Riku suddenly clapped his hand together "Alright, no matter how she comes out looking, just…say wow?"

"Wow?"

"Yah. She'll like that."

"…I hope it's short."

"Shut it, Sora."

And then the door open. "Hi guys!" A female voice shouted. Both turn and…observed.

Kairi still had her red locks, though they were damp. Nothing changed of the color nor the shape; her hair still cascaded down her head straight; no curls or spikes. However, it _was _different.

Kairi now had bangs. Though only one little lock curved off her hairline and dropped with a slight bounce against her forehead. The rest of her hair curled around the side of her hand and descended down the side of her face, framing against her cheekbones and swaying a little at each step she took and each time the wind blew. Tucked behind her ears and against the back of her head, the hair still had a considerable length of red going down to the middle of her back, though it was also cut in layers, giving it a bit of volume. "I figured this way I won't have to worry about hair getting in my way if it's windy. And I can always put it up in a pony tail if I need to." She ran a hand through the smaller section of hair, talking more to herself then to the boys. "So, what do you think?"

During the time Kairi was explaining her hair, Sora and Riku were looking at it and not really listening to the words she spoke. Sora's jaw steadily dropped until it hung for a bit and Riku let out a little smirk, though a tint of a blush crowned his cheeks (not that he would ever admit it of course). Sora made the first reply:

"Wow."

Kairi blinked, but let out a shy smile, "Really?"

"Look's great, Kai." Riku stated. "Still makes you look like a proper lady," He brushes his fingers lightly over the partially wet hair, "but your bangs, ah, frame you're face well." He waited slightly for the moment for Sora to say that Riku stole it from him.

But Sora did not. He merely said, "Wow," again.

Kairi giggled, "Alright guys, thank you both for waiting. How about I treat you to some lunch, hmm?"

Kairi turned around and started walking away. Riku followed.

Sora just started for a moment.

Eventually, a long arm came back and started pulling him along, "Yah Sora: Kairi. Pretty. Hair. Pretty. Come on, dork."

"Wow."

---

I once did a little sketch of all of them more grown up, and I drew Kairi's hair like that, so…that's how I like picturing her hair. This one's pretty crappy, but if I get a few pity chuckles, I'll be happy.


	4. Why we lock our doors

Because I wanted to do something naughty but still following fanfiction DOT net rules and I wanted to include other people in it. This would be April's

---

"All I'm saying is, like, this stuff would not happen if the breaks were kept up to check." Yuffie commented with a wave of her hand.

"Bull. You cannot drive. That's all." Leon said bluntly

"Well, what was I suppose to do?! Nobody else could have done it and I do have a license." The girl practically screamed.

"You have a permit, not a license."

"Technicalities." She waved the hand holding her shuriken this time, "Besides, it wouldn't be so bad if you could drive. BUT OH YAH, you never attempted." She wave her shuriken at him now

Leon snorted, "I never needed to. Everyone else could drive." He then glanced out of the corner of his eyes at Yuffie, "Except you."

"At least I'm trying. Unlike you, who does nothing but complain. You know, I have to have an adult with me-"

"Alright, stop the yelling. We are here." And with a wave of his hand this time, Leon quieted them both. Both warriors stood at the guesthouse usually reserved for a certain group of world travelers from Destiny Island or the Disney Kingdom.

"I don't see why we didn't call." Yet again, Yuffie complained.

"Kairi said her and Sora traveled non-stop here, so they said they might crash and probably won't here the phone. And Riku got in early this morning, so I'm not sure about his status, but from the dark circles under his eyes, he is in no better shape. So if we called, they might be asleep. Besides, this way we can take them with us and we don't have to worry about being late." Leon informed.

"…We should have called anyways."

Leon sighed and knocked on the door. No sound was heard from inside. Leon knocked again, this time calling, "Hello? Sora? The meeting is suppose to start soon." Some more knocks. "Time to get up. Kairi, Riku?"

"You think they might have gone into town?" Yuffie asked, trying to peer into the windows. "All the lights are off."

"It is the middle of the day." Leon stated, knocking again. "And if they are, we'll still look for them here first. Maybe they left a note," He gave up and headed to turn the knob. There was really no reason to lock the doors, after all. He stepped in, squinting his eyes slightly. Yuffie followed in, glancing in the dark. Something slammed into the corner. Leon pulled out his weapon and Yuffie raised her shuriken.

They first paused to assess the situation. Then they paused because they had to stare. It was hard to say who was who at first or what was going on, but as soon as they figured it out…it left with more staring.

It was Kairi against the wall. The red hair smashed against the off-white wall was clear. And it was clear to see her mouth occupied with Sora's; she was quite into the kiss, with eyes shut tight. That would not have been so strange but Kairi also used the arm facing Yuffie and Leon wined tightly in Riku's hair. Actually yanking on it, as his head bent down on it. However, if Riku minded, he made no worded complaints. Both of his hands were flat against the wall behind and above Kairi and had buried his face somewhere behind Sora's head, grinding his hips forward as hard as he could. Sora was equally making most of the noise and apparently just enjoying the ride, especially when Kairi decided to bury her face in his collarbone. His eyes rolled up, and (somewhat) luckily to the two stunned adults, "Oh…Hi Yuffie…Leon."

Kairi opened her eyes to a slit, only realizing that Sora was talking to people, not that there were actual people here and were watching them and Sora has divided his attention to something else besides her and their boyfriend. Nevertheless, once she saw them, she literally squeaked and pushed Sora off her, inadvertently pushing Riku back. Sora stumbled, but Riku brought his hands down to catch him while Kairi wrapped her arms around her chest. Apparently, her top was zipped down to her stomach and she was hoping to cover any skin or under garments revealed.

Riku, who was topless, pulled his head up and glared at both adults, "What?!" His voice was as ragged as his appearance. He did not look top pleased.

Sora simply looked dazed. He grinned a little, too.

Yuffie's mouth was slack and she actually paled. Leon's eyebrow rose and his lips twirled to something of discomfort. Surprisingly, Yuffie got her voice first, "Well…um…we are having that meeting soon, so…come to it." She shrugged.

Sora blinked a little, trying to think of some sort of cohered thought. Kairi just looked shock. Riku took a deep breath, and stated breathlessly, "Give us a half hour."

Leon's expression changed to annoyance. "No." He raised his weapon to point at the clock, "It'll starts in ten. You got to be there in ten."

Riku looked equally annoyed, rubbed his face in frustration, "Twenty-five minutes."

"…Ten."

"Twenty!"

Leon pondered it for a moment. "…Twelve."

"Come on!"

"…Twelve."

"Fifteen, plus two minutes for walking."

Leon looked to the side, thinking. "Seventeen minutes all together?" He finally nodded. "See you in seventeen." Then he marched to the door, as if he simply saw them eating dinner and not making out. Yuffie had come out of her stupor by then, but kept staring, though now she looked rather embarrassed, "Yuffie, leave." Leon called out and that got the girl moving.

Once the door slammed, the three occupants looked at each other. "Well, you heard the man. We have fifteen minutes. Better hurry of it." Riku stated, rubbing his hands together.

"What?!" Kairi exclaimed, looking at Riku with disbelief, "How can you still want to do it?!"

"…Is that a trick question?" Riku asked.

Kairi glanced at Sora for support, "Well?!"

Sora equally blinked, "Um…I'm not sure I understand, either."

Kairi stared at them, then shook her head. "No, I am not doing this."

"What?!" Riku dropped his hands and looked visible distraught. "What do you mean, no!?"

"Riku, people just walked in on us! It ruins the mood a little." Kairi said with a blush and a glare.

"But Kairi…you're making the face," Sora wined, "You are making it nooooow."

"No, we are doing this," Riku stated, slightly bending over and seemed to be panting, "I haven't seen or touched either of you in a month. A MONTH. I need…SOMETHING!" His hair frizzled a little more as he waved his hands.

"Well fine, you and Sora can have fun, but I am not participating!" Kairi said, starting to rearrange her top in a right order.

"No no no, you cannot go back on it now. You first shoved your tongue down my throat. Then you shoved it down Sora's throat. You started the button, Kairi. You are gonna finish it!"

"…Started the button?" Sora asked with confusion, "I mean, there is starting the engine or pressing the button, but not starting the button. Now, pressing the engine might work, but-"

"Sora, shut up!" Both Kairi and Riku shouted.

"Alright Kairi, I see your point." Riku stated calmly, "Now here is mine." And then Riku threw Kairi over his shoulder, like a cave dweller. Kairi started screeching and kicking, but had to use her hands to keep her top up. "Come Sora. We shall seduce Kairi in the bed room." Riku then marched away, carrying his (unwilling) prize.

Sora looked at the clock, looked outside, and licked the roof of his mouth. He yelled down the hall, "Hey Riku, I am all for it, but are you sure we have enough time? We are already down by two minutes and Kairi doesn't seem-"

"Sora. NOW!"

Sora blinked a little, grinned suddenly, and skipped to the room. It was always more fun when everyone was a little more aggressive.

---

In fifteen minutes, Radiant Garden Restoration Committee and the three Keyblade kids sitting in the main meeting room. However, the three youngsters looked a little…off. Kairi had her arms crossed over her midsection with legs crossed and fidgeting angrily, turning away from the two boys sitting next to her, and a blush streaking across her nose. Ever now and then, a smile would cross her face, but it would quickly change into a scowl and huff again. Riku sat in the middle, leaning against the back of the couch with his hands spread along the back, as if he had an arm around each his "friends'" shoulders. Of course, it was easy to see this happening as Riku wore a smirk like a cat that not only got the cream and canary, but also served the canary in cream soup. Sora sat at the other side, the only one who looked actually normal and paying attention.

Leon looked at the kids and occasionally shaking his head, but said nothing. Yuffie kept giggling every time she looked at one of the three. Everyone else rather figured everyone in the group besides five of them missed something, but figured that they would eventually blame it on Yuffie.

Before anything began, Cid asked this: "Is that a scratch mark running down the side of your neck, kid?"

The white-haired male beamed, "Why yes, yes it is." He retrieved the hand to Sora's side of the couch, touching the angry scratch and sent a sideways glance at Kairi, wiggling his eyebrows. Kairi turned scarlet. Yuffie started gaffing, Leon let out a sigh, and Sora…

Well, he asked this: "What's so funny?"

Yuffie then proceeded to roll on the floor in hysterics.

---

I love the Yuffie and Squall/Leon dynamic. Not as a couple, per say, but as family and battle collaborates. Sorry if Sora came out a bit more of a ditz then usual. I can't write him!


	5. My choice of Family

So, this one that was an idea of a story that I will not ever complete. However, I loved this particular scene I thought of, so I include it here. Unlike the previous ones, this one is quite a dramatic and sad one.

---

They huddled in the cave, breathless. Sora huffed heavily, clutching his knees, occasionally glancing at Riku and Kairi. Kairi leaned against a wall for support, her free hand clutching her heart. Riku leaned against the entrance, gazing.

Their pursuer would be coming soon. They all knew this.

Riku turned to look down the cave. It was deep, dark. Would be good for hiding, though bad for attacking. Yet…

A ring went through the small area, causing Riku to flinch and Kairi to gaps lightly in fear. Sora pulled out a device from his pocket. He pressed a button and put it to his ear. "Hello? Yah…we are the tunnel…yah…yah…she's fine," Sora glanced a Kairi briefly, sending her a reassuring smile, "…We are just waiting…uh huh…" His smiled dropped and he paused from answer, "No…nothing's wrong…we'll be waiting…See you then." He hung up the phone, letting out a sigh.

"Well?" Riku asked quietly, after a moment of silence.

"They're on their way…but…they'll be here in a half hour."

"A half-!" Riku started to shout, but controlled himself with a deep breath. No, him being angry would not help them. He had to be calm. He had to think. He licked his lips, gazing outside. They did not have a half hour. They had ten minutes before-

"How deep is the cave?" Kairi asked quietly.

"There's a small room in the back." Sora stated, "I figured you can find a place to hide, and me and Riku will stay out here." Kairi opened her mouth, but Sora shook his head, "Kairi, please. You have to stay safe. You're protecting two lives, no just your own." Sora tried to lighten the mood with the remark and a smile. He reached out and brushed the woman's hair back.

"He'll be here in seven minutes, at the most." Riku stated this warning. He looked down.

"Well, we can still hold him off together." Sora stated.

"No." Sora glanced at Riku with confused, "You are going to take Kairi and stay back there." Riku finished calmly.

"What?!" Sora shook his head and stepped to the older man. He reached out to pull on Riku's wrist, "But-"

"-There is always the risk one of us could get caught and be used against the other. Especially in this fight. This is not an opponent like a Heartless." Riku licked his lips, acting nervous, "We have about twenty five minutes before help comes. Meaning twelve and a half minutes each. All I have to do is hold for that time."

"Riku!" Sora finally shouted, the sounded echoing the cavern.

"He's not going to kill me." Riku stated as if it was nothing. "And he's not going to kill Kairi. You, on the other hand, he probably would not bat an eye about."

"If you think-" Sora began, but paused when the wrist he grabbed onto suddenly twisted around and fingers entwined with his own.

"I love you," Riku stated quietly, glancing at Sora, really looking at him, just in case this would be it. His eyes shifted to Kairi, "Both of you," He wanted to just remember her eyes, even if they were full of fear and sadness now, something that tore into his gut. Then his gaze settled down to her abdomen, "All of you." And this was the reason for all of this. His child, his _daughter_. He wanted her to be safe, to be born with a clean start. He wanted so much for her…

Sora's wrist went limp against his and his eyes' dropped while Kairi suddenly dove for Riku, hugging him. He felt her tears against his neck. It took a lot of power for Riku to hold onto Sora; he knew he had to be the strong one, and grabbing Sora's hand and admitting those words were the only weaknesses he would allow himself to express. He could not allow himself to express anything else. But…he let himself to raise his free hand to touch her stomach, touch his baby. He could Smell all their hearts; Sora's strong heart, with a tang of both light and dark. Kairi's own pleasantly bright one, as pure as the first flake of snow. And the child's…the heart just started to shape. Something not quite whole…a strange chaotic mix that smelled…unsullied. He wanted keep it that way.

This, them…they would be worth protecting. He could do that. He already gave up everything for them once. He could do it again.

He stepped back from them, letting their touches fall away from him. He reached into his pocket.

Sora would not look at him, "…Twelve minutes. Each."

"Yah."

"Fine." Sora shook his head, his words not agreeing with everything else, but his vocal was what counted. He quickly wrapped an arm around Kairi's shoulders and led her away, "Come on, Kai, you gotta rest. Not good for the kid." He said around a lump in his throat. His gaze stayed down.

Under normal circumstance, Kairi would be standing her ground, willing to jump in for anything. She was not afraid. But Kairi, literally, could not fight. Any stress endangered her child, a living creature that needed her in perfect health to survive. The mother in her would not risk it. Riku knew she felt a part of her dignity and worth was gone. Yet, Kairi loved her baby more and she had to keep her trust in the fathers.

She allowed Sora lead her away, she looked back only once, mouthing his name.

Riku pretended he did not see it.

Once both their footsteps vanished, he pulled out a piece of cloth. He wrapped the black around his eyes. His senses were already increasing ten-folds, and he knew his eyes were going to change a dangerous shade of yellow-orange. The darkness started to roll around him.

But that was fine. He could wade in darkness for his family.

…His family.

He smiled bitterly and was glad that the fabric swallowed the tears that escaped.


	6. I love you, okay?

Since I did the last serious one, I did something a little less serious.

---

"Hey Kairi."

"Hmmmm?"

"How come Riku doesn't say 'I love you?'"

Kairi stretched from her spot next to Sora in the little cave next to the door to the world. She yawned and glanced over at him, "What?" She asked in a tired voice. The rain pitter-pattering on the sand had lulled her into a half-state of rest, kept steady by Sora's own heart beat. Kairi knew he said something about Riku not doing something, and something about love, but her brain was still waking up.

"I said, how come Riku doesn't say 'I love you'"

Kairi let out another yawn, rubbing her eyes. She knew this would be a bit of a…hassle conversation. Oh well, better her and Sora talk about whatever this problem was before Sora went to Riku and had this conversation. "Sora, what's the matter?"

Sora sighed, then lifted one hand he had around Kairi and slipped it behind his head. "I mean, I know he does, but…why is it hard to say it?"

Kairi shook her head and laughed. Oh, how sweet Sora could be. Still had not changed, even as he was more of an adult now then a child. "Most guys don't like saying it."

"But I'm a guy and I say it all the time!" Sora declared, slightly shaking Kairi along with his yelling.

Yes, it was good that Kairi was dealing with this. Because Riku would probably mess up or not know what to say or how to say it or what he wanted to express. "Riku's a little different then you, though. He's more…" She was going to say 'tough,' but Sora could take that the wrong way. A better word would be, "Serious. He's always been less likely to express compassion or anything in that vein, especially after everything."

"Hmm…" And Sora started to pout. It was rather cute.

Kairi giggled, "This really bugs you, huh?"

"Well…I say it to each of you all the time and you say it back. We say it all the time to him! I mean, with us, at least, he should be able to say it!"

"And you think because he doesn't say it he…" She ran a finger on his nose, "He doesn't love you like you love him." Sora slightly huffed, but then his scowl dropped. She hit the nail on the head. "Do you really think that…" She pointed a finger against his heart, "…while thinking with this?"

"Noooo…but, it's when I think with this," He pointed his free hand to his head, "I question things."

If Riku were here, he would try to break the mood by commenting about Sora's thought power in a mix attempt to belittle Sora's intelligence and to tell Sora to agree with his heart. Appropriate, but probably would not go so well with the situation. She had to nip this in the butt. "Sora, look, Riku expresses himself differently. He's all about the actions he does, not the words he says, okay? He shows that he cares-"

"You guy's drenched rats yet?" A voice came from the front of the cave. Two set's of blue eyes looked over and saw Riku shaking his umbrella off, with some extra set of plastic wrapped around his arms.

Kairi spared a glance at Sora, "So, want to continue the conversation?"

"Oh, um…" Sora shook his head, "No."

"Continue what?" Riku asked with an eyebrow-raised.

Kairi already placed a small finger on Sora's lips, since she knew she would need to feed him the lie. "Discussion on the next storm. It was raining buckets, but I don't think we'll get any hurricanes this time around. Right, Sora." She asked sweetly, though she made sure to wink with the eye not facing Riku.

"Huh?" He said around her finger, blinked, thought, and then nodded, "Oh, yah, right." Kairi removed her finger so his words could be better heard, "Though a good enough storm might bring a good bit of fish in."

Riku chuckled, "Guess we could be working this summer." He glanced over at the resting couple and smirked, "So what are you two doing."

"Waiting for the storm to get done." Kairi replied in an equal flirtation tone. "You can join in."

He chuckled again, "Maybe another time. I came with extra protective gear in case you are afraid of the water. It is about 4:19."

"Already that late?" With a final yawn, Kairi stood up, stretched, and then brushed her skirt off. She helped Sora stand up and additionally brushed him off, even though he pouted like a child and complained about it, commenting that Kairi was not his mother and he could clean himself.

Riku held out the ponchos, "Alright boys and girls, let's keep dry." Sora grabbed both ponchos, tossed one back to Kairi, and slipped his over his head, pulling the hood over his spikes (wouldn't want those to get wet). Kairi slipped her poncho on, but left the hood down, instead taking the extra umbrella Riku brought. "The sand is slippery, so be careful."

Sora let out a, "Pfff." and challenged, "Wuss! I bet you I can get there before you." He charged out, "Last one there is a rotten egg!"

---

"Hmmm…" Riku turned his head slightly. Kairi observed the behavior.

"What's the matter?" She asked, looking over her umbrella.

"Nah…just…something's wrong." Riku remarked, slowly heading to the entrance.

"What do you mean?" She asked, but she started guessing. Riku was observant and he could read people better then even Kairi could. Though unlike Kairi, he kept it to himself unless it needed to be said (Of course, Riku said he had the tact that Kairi and Sora could never have, but since he did not use this so called tact with them, both youngster proceeded to be very "untactful" with him).

"Just something…" He rubbed his chin. They both headed to the entrance and saw that Sora, instead of waiting by the boats and taunting them, just sat down and wave. "What wrong with him?"

Kairi only let a little smile appear on your face before she opened her umbrella, stepped around Riku, and stated while walking. "He thinks you don't love him."

"What?!" Riku shouted over the rain fall and followed the girl.

She kept a steady place, but waited for Riku to catch up before continuing the conversation. She kept smiling. Yes, more nipping in the butt.

"Kairi, why does Sora think this?" He asked in a loud whisper, almost with an accusation in his tone.

She knew he was not accusing her of anything, but he needed to accuse someone and Kairi was the nearest target. "Well, he doesn't think you love him like he loves you."

He now paused in his step, tone changing to something of annoyance, "What the hell does that even mean?"

"Apparently, because you don't say I love you." She stated, not at all trying to hide the grin on her face. Frankly, she found the whole situation rather funny, though in a serious, surreal way.

"I don't say I…love you?" He looked at her with disbelief, but she did notice his almost stuttering around those last two words. It was kind of cute and endearing at the moment. Made her roll her eyes and keep her grin.

"All I am saying is what he told me."

Riku let out a sigh and mumbled, "Why does he have to be a girl about this sort of stuff?" They both started walking in a small span of silence, seeing as Sora was starting to get impatient and looking at them. When they were over half-way there, Riku mumbled something again.

"What did you say?" Kairi asked, not hearing since Riku spoke barely above a whimper.

"What about you?" He asked a little louder.

"What about me?"

"I mean…you are a girl and, so…you know." He waved his hand for a second before letting drop, clearly not comfortable saying it.

Kairi shook her head, "Riku, I love you." She said with a bright smile, "I also love Sora. And I know you both love me. I think we've all proven that to one another at many points in our lives. I know you do, Riku, I know." She looked down slightly and blushed at her next words, "It's always nice to hear, but I don't need to hear it." She was not scolding him for not saying it. Riku was a man who preferred to show his emotions then state them for various reasons; it was more honest to him, words could not express everything he wanted to mean, and he was raised to believe men do not express emotions because it was a sign of weakness. Not like her or Sora, who were encourage to say what they felt. And maybe a little part of him, something Kairi suspected but would never comment out loud, was Riku felt a little afraid someone might laugh for admitting.

Riku looked down, "Am I going to have to talk to him or something?" He mumbled.

"I think that would be a good idea."

"Or he'll just eventually move onto something else." Riku glanced at Kairi. Kairi sent him a glare. Riku sighed, "Or I can talk to him."

She giggled and the conversation ended. After all, they were within hearing distance of Sora.

---

It was about a half hour later and they were all at Sora's house. Kairi was busy helping Sora's mother in the kitchen. When she left the boys, they were playing whatever electronically crap they bought this week with money earned from fishing. While the meal steamed, Kairi wondered if Riku had brought anything up. She excused herself and headed up stairs.

She looked into the doorway and watched them play. She crossed her arms and knocked lightly on the door frame. The turned to look up at her. "Just to warn you, you guys have about ten minutes before you need to clean up because dinner is going to be done in twenty." Kairi sent a nod to Riku, indicating that, yes, right now, time to talk.

Riku got the message and already told Sora that he was done playing. She walked out of the doorway, leaving them some of their privacy. But Kairi stayed outside of the doorway. She would listen to their little exchange, just in case. They, after all, weren't the most…eloquent two people in the universe.

And this is what she heard:

"Sora?"

"Yah?" The system was shut off. There was movement in the room.

"I was told…" Riku obviously pausing over his words. She knew he was running his hand through his hair, "What I'm trying to get at is…" Another difficult pause, "Sora, you know I…care." She slapped a hand over her mouth and slightly giggled. She briefly wondered if she should go in to help. She thought better and knew she could probably not help. Besides, Riku was a big boy. He could do that.

"…Riku, are you okay? You're talking funny." The bed shifted, and she knew Sora plopped down right on it.

"Look, I talked to Kairi and she told me about what you were worried about how I…feel about you." It was almost sweet as how nervous you sound.

Sora made a sound, but it was hard for Kairi to decipher its meaning.

"Sora…you know I do, right?"

Sora remained silent.

Riku let out a sigh. There was movement on the bed, indicating Riku sat down next to Sora. "Sora, I love you, okay?"

"I know."

"Why do you sound pissed?"

"I'm not!"

Another sigh from Riku, "You sound like it."

And another silence.

"It's not really nice saying 'I love you, okay?'" Sora mumbled. "As if it's a hassle."

"Sorry." Riku slightly huffed. Sounded more like, 'I'm sorry, but I don't understand what I'm sorry about.' Which was probably the case.

"Look, don't worry about it. It's not a big deal." Sora mumbled.

"Oh, of course it's a big deal!" Now Kairi was surprised. He actually sounded angry. No, not angry. Surprised. "You wouldn't think it's a problem if it's not a big deal! You wouldn't be upset unless it was a big deal!"

"Um…." Sora slightly made a sounded, but Riku just kept it going.

"Look, I'm not the most expressive person. And yah, okay, I have problems saying my feelings, but damn, I do care. If this is bugging you, then I have to fix it! I don't want it to! Because I do love you. And this bugs me that it bugs you, so just tell me, what the hell do you want!? You want me to say it more, I can say it more! I'm not scared to. Just because I'm not use to it, I can do it! And if I gotta do anything else, I can do that, too. Just…just tell me! I don't understand, but I can make it better. Just tell me what. You. Want." Riku breathed a little heavily.

Kairi bit her lower lip, wondering if something bad might happen. But then:

"Sora?" Riku asked, very confused.

"Yes?" Sora asked, sounding happy.

"Why are you hugging me?"

"Because you do love me."

"What?"

Kairi let out a held breath and her relief transformed into a little smile.

"What…just happened." Riku stated more then asked.

"Don't worry about it." Sora replied, shifting slightly on the bed, "You did good."

"Okay."

And then the room went silent.

"Kairi, you can come out now. Apparently, I did not totally screw up."

She peeked in the door way, and there it was, Sora now happily curled up on Riku. Riku helped, but he looked slightly nervously down at his bundle. "I figured you did." She giggled, "Alright, I bet dinner is done now." She smiled at them once more time before she headed down the hall.

She'd give them a few more moment. Though she paused her step when Sora said:

"So, you are gonna say it more?" Sora asked like a little child.

A strong paused.

"Only in front of you, Kairi, the King, and maybe your mom."

She snickered and headed to help prepare the meal.

---

Not sure if I like this one, but…forgive for making Sora such a girl. Then again, maybe he sort of is, with evidence both at the Kingdom Hearts II and…just wait for 358/2 Days to come out.


	7. My child: Terra

And now for something a little serious. There is some back story about a next generation character. It's an original character. I am usually disinterested in them, but I always make exceptions on the children, since they kind of should be main character and should be like their parents.

Also, I do like Riku, but he's probably the least person I like in the Trio (a proud SoraxKairi fan!), but he is great to write for (I think half the SoRiKai things I write for are in Riku's PoV). I love my boy and girl, but happy people are the worst people to write for because they have no problems. People with problems are easy to write for.

---

She's your child, your first born, the heir to your legacy. You can see a reflection of yourself in her, but that in itself is a duel-edge of a word.

She was always smarter then the other children. Maybe it's only because you are her father and you favor her that you think these things. Yet, compared to even her younger siblings, she was always the girl talking and always the one walking before every other baby. She was also the one exploring, always taller then the other girls (and boys, even now that she is a woman and boys are supposed to be taller.). She was a sweet as most girls, but also aggressive as any boy; the type of child who loved to doll up in her Sunday best, yet willing to jump in the mud if put on the spot.

She doesn't look like you; not to you, at least. Everyone tells you so and, of course, the resemblance is obvious. It's your hair she has, and your smile; wide, cheerful, and daring. She has her mother's eyes, and it's from her mother where her hair can take form. It's a mess of thick strands, like Kairi's. However, Kairi's hair is straight; the girl has more of the airy-ness as you own, making them spill in ever direction. Kairi has fun playing with it. She would never cut the hair all off (neither would you want it to be cut, for that matter), but she put everything on it; pony-tails, barrettes, even a curly iron if the mood served right. As she got old, she, your child, let it grow even longer then you would dare wear your own. Now it spills a couple inches down her back.

She was a pretty as a little girl, but now she's becoming a truly beautiful woman. But she is never aware of it. Whenever compliments her on her looks passed her ears, she simply shrugged and goes on to something else. Sora said you use to do it when you were her age, but you don't think you were beautiful. Maybe handsome, but it is different (perhaps in that regard, you are the same as her, but not something you would admit).

In some sort of coincidence, because she has your forcefulness and bluntness and Kairi's sweetness and assertiveness, her personality is somewhat like Sora's. Even at the tender age of five, both have been getting into mischief. They put together plays and shows and go on pretend adventures, like you did when you and Sora were children. You both grew up, but Sora still had that child curiosity and found a play-mate with their eldest. You are not a happy person, but Sora is, and Sora can give her that joy. It was not uncommon for you to find them in play wrestling, usually Sora letting her get the upper hand. Now a day, even when Sora's an older man and she's on the verge of being an adult, they still get into it for sport. You simply laugh, because now she's taller then Sora (not by much, but still enough to tease).

But, as she is your child, she was going to become a fighter. It was not surprise to you. She might be warm, but the moment she picked up a wooden sword instead of sea-shells, you knew her path. Even if she's a girl, she already has your strength. She mimics your poses and grace. She dances in combat, daggers flying around.

What scares you the most, what keep you up at night sometimes, is that you can smell her heart. It is strong; you can smell the darkness in it. It feels strong. And you worry, because you pray she will not make the mistakes you did.

But then…you look at her eyes. You've seen her stare into darkness with a smile. You see how gentle she can be with her siblings and protective she gets over then. There is darkness, but there is light. And then…you remember she's also her mother's daughter and she had Sora in her life, and that worked for you so you stop yourself from worrying.

Though the real reason she will never be you; she does not have your ambition nor you're anger. She also does not have the restriction you grew up in. She's curious and one day she'll unfurl her wings and fly away. But you trust her.

Terra will be just fine.

---

Terra was actually a character I thought up for a next generation story for Kingdom Hearts. She would be the daughter of Riku and a mother who, though at the time would dead, would be important to the background of the plot. I actually thought about her name before BbS was announced, so I was pretty psyched and upset at hearing the name. Her name was inspired by Terra Branford from Final Fantasy VI. And since Riku has a same name as another Final Fantasy Character (who also appears in Kingdom Hearts, our pixie Rikku), it goes with that connect as well as Terra does mean 'Earth.' But, then the names for Birth by Sleep came out…and I could not think of a better name. Though I accept suggestions!

You'll be seeing her more in these little one-shots.


	8. Ice cream and Possesiveness

I'll be going back to that theme of children, but now for another humorous one still as teenager! Yet another Riku one! Why is he so great to write for?!

* * *

It was fair to say Riku was protective. As a child, he had always looked out for the kids younger then him picked on by rougher, older kids. Past the time when girls had cooties and learned of stories about brave knights, he acted out similar parts and saved the damsel in distress. When he reached his teenager years, he protected Kairi when she lost her heart and Sora when he slept. Now that it was after all that, he did not need to so scared for his love ones, yet old habits die hard and he still have a bit of the protective nature in him existed..

Yet, some people called it by another name. The way he was with his two best friends especially; some people claimed him to be almost possessive. He frowned at any accusation of that at the very least. At the very most, he would huff and walk away.

Protective? Yes.

But Possessive?

---

"Riku?"

"What?"

"Why are we here?"

"I though you liked ice cream."

"Well, I do, but Riku?"

"Yes?"

"Why are we spying on Kairi?"

Riku glared at Sora. "We are _not_ spying on Kairi. Aren't you the one who complains on how I don't take you out enough?"

Sora, on his side of the table, set his spoon down and frowned at Riku. Normally he would take the bait and state that he does not complain, but he actually knew this time Riku was trying to distract him. "Well, if that's the issue, then why don't I go say 'hi' to Kairi over there with her science partner and we can all get cones together?" He stood up from behind the large, fake, potted plant and garnished pillar and opened his big mouth, "Hey-"

He barely got out the first word before Riku reached over the table, knocked down his float and tipped over Sora's flurry, then pulled down the brown-haired boy back behind their safety zone. "Are you an idiot?!" Riku scowled at him in a loud whisper.

Sora chose not to reply to the question, and instead glared at him with a smirk, "See? You wanted to spy on Kairi!"

Riku could not reply quickly. Not because of the accusation, Sora smirking and glaring at the same moment made his brain freeze for a moment. He would blame Roxas for that, as soon as he came back to himself. Riku shook his hair and glared back the same, minus a smile. "I am not."

"Then why are we hiding on the other side instead of where Kairi and her partner are sitting, huh?" Sora's expression changed from angry to sadness. "And my ice-cream is ruined. You said you'd buy me one." He started to pout.

Riku sighed, but then he rang the bell. "Alright, I'll get you more ice-cream, just…hide, please?"

Sora huffed like a five-year old. "Fine, but…why are we watching Kairi? She did not want us around to distract her." He glanced around the column at the other table, taking in Kairi and her partner.

"I know that…but I don't see why they have to do it here!" He grumbled. Their server came at them first with a bright smile on her face. Then she saw the mess and that smile quickly disappeared. Sora shrugged nervously and pointed at Riku. "He gets excited about ice-cream." Sora glanced down at the little menu to the side. "So you are treating me, right Riku."

"Yah yah," Riku mumbled, his gaze still on the other pair. The server simply sighed and started to gather up what she could in her hands and with napkins.

Sora helped the lady clean up the mess before looking over the menu. "Alright…um…I'll have this…this…and he'll have this one, please." He grinned his blinding grin. The waitress still looked annoyed, but she eventually rolled her eyes with a hair of a smile on her face. No one could resist that look! Once she walked away, Sora leaned back to look over at Kairi. "Riku?"

"What?" Riku mumbled, not really paying attention.

"Are you…jealous?"

Riku turned back to glare at his partner. "No."

"But Riku."

"Sora…" Riku warned.

"I'm just saying…they were paired together for school. It is not like this was something he set up. They-"

"Did you see that!" Riku interrupted in a yelled in that loud whisper again.

"What?" Sora chose not to look. He actually chose to look at Riku and wonder why people said he was the moron and not the white-haired male in front of him.

"He's touching her!"

Sora rolled his eyes and looked over, just in case there was any funny business. His face went deadpanned. "Riku, he's handing her a spoon."

"He brushed his fingers against her's! Didn't you see that?" Riku accused.

Sora did look carefully. Okay, maybe the guy was lingering a little too longer, but it was not like it was indecent. Besides, Kairi had only blushed when she dropped her spoon, not while receiving one, as the red tint on her face vanished within seconds. Clearly, that was a blush that meant, 'Oh, now everyone in the ice cream parlor will think I'm a klutz.' not, 'Oh, now he'll think I'm a klutz and will not like me.' Yes, the person may be making googley eyes at Kairi, but the only thing Kairi made googley eyes at was her Sunday. Though…it did look good. Maybe he'll order one too.

"Riku, I don't see what you are so worried. I mean, serious, it is nothing to get stressed about." Sora mumbled. Riku made some sort of confirmation noise, but his green-blue eyes fixed on the two at the other table. "I mean it! Serious, what does he have that we don't?"

"He's rich." Riku mumbled in scorn.

Sora was surprised with how quick the response came from Riku's mouth. Did he actually ponder about this? Sora just rolled his eyes. "Yah, but so is Kairi, technically." Riku gave him a look, and Sora had to roll his eyes again, "What I mean is that…Kairi likes to be given things, but it's not a monetary thing. Remember when we saved up all that money to get a gold pendant for her? She was happy to get it, but she keeps it in her dresser draw and will only wear it on 'special occasions,' yet when we got those little kids to decorate a pair of white slippers we got, like, dirt cheap…she squealed over them and now she never takes them off around the house! Heck, we found her a caterpillar to take care of, she was all-happy and everything and she cried in that weird 'I'm happy, yet I'm crying' thing girls do when it turned into a butterfly. That gift was free. Even the cage we used use to be an old screen from a lap." Sora leaned back, and sighed, "So, Kairi likes it when she thinks we think about what we get her, not the actual price. So, no, she's not gonna hook up with a chump simply because of cash."

"…He's not…I know Selphie has commented about that, and even though I don't see it, Kairi might." Riku added with a bit of a grumble. He even folded his arms over his chest.

Sora rolls his eyes, "Well, I know that one should never be a worry for us. I mean, look at us." Sora waved his hands up, "I'm adorable and you're like…sex on legs."

"…Sex on legs?"

"I heard someone call you that." Sora quieted down for a moment when the ice-cream parlor woman came back with their ice cream. It certainly stopped Riku from asking which person Sora heard that comment from. She looked a little put-upon for balancing all the items for two gentlemen, but once Sora gave her a bright smile and a thank you, she smiled again and walked away, not too bothered anymore. "Yah, with us, she gets the best of both worlds; she gets boyish good looks for me, and hotness from you. I mean, look at us!" Sora picked up a spoon and gestured to himself "I'm not shorter then her, but not that much taller then her; perfect for holding and kissing on her level. I'm like, not scary. I rather inspire the…motherly side. I'm also fun and creative. And she loved my tan." Sora pointed the spoon at Riku, "You, on the other hand, are stunning. Tall, broad, and you have smoking eyes. You turn heads, buddy! There is no comparison with the two of us versus the one of him!" Sora, satisfied with his comments, now satisfied himself with a helping of his delicious treat.

"When did you become such a woman." It was not a question from Riku; it was a comment.

"And that's another thing." Usually, Sora would throw a scuff (read: Hissy fit) at such a comment directed to him, but he was ready for such dribble to pour out of Riku's mouth. He instead bit down on his spoon just to calm his slight agitation, grinned around the metal, pulled the spoon out, then continued with his speech, "I related to Kairi in some ways that your overly macho and prideful self can't. Yet, she appreciates your, um…shielding nature and your…wisdom? Yah, your brains."

Riku slightly shifted in his seat and sigh. Sora grinned even more; he was winning. "Anyways, look, forget about our physical appearance: As long as I've know Kairi, she does not look at guys simply for what's on the outside. I mean, yah, I bet she would want someone healthy look, but she literally looks at their hearts. Remember Selphie complained about that? The whole year we were both gone? Kairi would, and I quote, 'Shrug or say 'I guess he's somewhat cute, but I have homework to do.' She tried to hook up Kairi with a few different bachelors, but did our girl stray?" He looked at his spoon and got a naughty idea, "And hey." Sora scooped up some dark sauce with his free hand, just a little on his index finger, "There is something that we, as in us, have over any one guy." Sora brought his hand up in front of his face and licked the little dabbles of chocolate off with an almost obnoxious sound effects. He made sure to wiggle his eyebrows during and after the gesture. "See, do you think he would be willing to play with another guy why she watches? We got that, without, like, need for bribery or what not. We put on shows for Kairi. I bet he wouldn't be willing to share Kairi or himself with another man. Inclosing, we still win."

"…I don't think wiliness has anything to do with it." Riku made sure his voice sounded deadpanned, as he looked Sora embarrassing over. He hoped nobody was watching him not use a utensil to eat. "I'm positive you enjoy it." He had no issue with Sora being…touchy with him. But not in public with ice cream they bought in public.

"My point is…My point is, no, Kairi is not leaving us for just one man. So…quit it." Sora though about putting more chocolate on his arm this time; it tasted yummy. But his dishes were all getting melty and even the little bit left on his finger was sticky. And Riku had his 'I need to ponder this deeply' look, so he could not get a response from Riku anyways, meaning no fun in the action. So, of course, Sora greedily started to slurp and generally inhale his treats.

"…Society status…" It took Riku at least a good five minutes to mumble that intelligent bit of wording.

"Now you are just reaching for straws." Sora mumbled around his spoon. He pulled it out and looked at how funny he looked in it. "It's almost as if you-" And then Sora's mouth dropped along with the spoon. "Oh my god!"

"What?" Riku asked annoyed, looking not happy he would have to deal with Sora now.

"Oh my god, I was kidding, but you actually have doubts!" Sora was not screaming, but he was loudly whispering.

"What are you talking about?"

"You don't trust Kairi!" Sora accused.

"What?" Now Riku was the one to bear the face of shock.

"I mean, you really don't trust her!" Sora actually looked in a state of panic.

"Of course I trust her!" Riku leaned over the table, reading to keep Sora down.

"You certainly aren't acting like it! You are really acting like there is a problem here, beyond just your usual insecurities."

"It's not that!"

"Then what it is?"

"I trust Kairi completely! I know she would never do anything. I just don't trust HIM!" Riku ended with a hiss, pointed at that table.

Sora started at him for a moment with a blank looked, then did something usually only Riku and Kairi did because of him; he gripped the bridge of his nose and shook his head, looking down. "Oh my god, Riku?"

"Shut up, Sora." Riku mumbled with clenched teeth.

"Okay, see, just…damn." Sora was no one to cuss, but he could not think up anything better to say. "Riku, I mean, he's our age and from this world. My mom and his mom both work for the school's bake-sale committee. I don't think there's anything dark there. I am also pretty sure his dad is, like, a real estate agent, but I don't think he is selling homes to Nobodies."

"Sora…"

"I mean, I'm all for being cautious since any moment we could be whisked away across to the other side of the galaxy, but I don't think someone from our own planet is gonna kidnap Kairi and use her to unlock Kingdom Hearts, especially one of Wakka's and Tidus's team mate." Sora sighed.

"Sora!"

But Sora shoved a spoon into his mouth. He may have mumbled some things about Riku being stupid or even if he tried anything, Kairi had more magic in her pinkie finger then the guy had through his whole body, but he kept shoveling in the delicious treats. It did make his mood better.

Sora eventual paused in his consumption. Not to make any small talk, but he got a brain freeze. So he may have been eating because it was yummy, and not to shut himself up, but who could blame him? Ice cream was good! He moaned out a little and felt cool. Surprisingly, the coolness physically also cooled him mentally. Sora glanced up at Riku, whom was either staring up at the ceiling or at the other duo. "Riku…I mean, you should not really worry. Right?"

Riku sighed, and then looked down at his melted treat. He stirred it, finally dropped his spoon, and sighed. "I'm sorry, I just…my mind works out funny. " He laid his head down. "I get bad feels in my gut, okay? Can't help but worry, especially you two. You two always end up in some bad situation. If anyone is to blame for my constant worry, it's both your faults, not mine." Riku noticed no rebuttal and glanced at Sora. He was giving Riku the dorkiest grin he had ever seen. "What?"

"If I was Kairi, I would say that was the cutest thing." Sora's grin got brighter.

"…And?"

"And I'm not Kairi, so I think you sound like a total idiot." Sora grinned with victory.

"Oh really? Well let me tell you something-"

"Hey," Sora exclaimed a little, not loud enough for others in the parlor to hear, but loud enough for Riku to listen to him, "I think I just saw him brush a foot against Kairi's leg."

"What?!" Riku leaned over and started to glare.

Sora had a good reason to distract Riku; Not because he did not want to hear what Riku would rant back at him; Sora ran out of ice-cream and he wanted some more. While Riku turned away, Sora quickly snatched up his empty plate and traded it with Riku's more full (yet melted) dish. Sora dipped the spoon down and started eating.

To be fair to Sora, the jerk that was partnered with Kairi did indeed try to initiate a game of footie's with Kairi, but all Kairi did was smile cutely at him…then shin-kicked the foolish boy. Sora had no idea what Riku was worried about after seeing that display, but the ice cream was yummy. In addition with it slightly melted…no brain freeze!

He timed it just right; Sora finished most of the plate right when Riku turned back, grinning. "Did you see that?" Riku remarked, looking please and dipped his spoon down…and was displeased to hear it make a glass sound. He frowned and looked at his dish. "I thought I still had some…"

"Well, we could always order more." Sora suggestion. He was starting to feel a little full, but he could go for another cone or two. Sora then imagined an ice-cream cone, at least the cone itself. He could not decide if he wanted a wafer cone or a sugar cone.

Riku grumbled, and then opened his wallet. "Well…"

"Hey, I think he's doing it again." Sora remarked.

"What?!" Riku hissed and turned away.

And just then, the nice server came back, and Sora put his charms on, "Hi, can I have another order of…" He looked at mini menu at the center, "On of those…and get me a cup of that." He pointed at his order. "Oh, and can my friend get another order of whatever he ordered before?" The server looked at the fuming man. Sora laughed lightly, "He doesn't like…plants." No one ever said Sora was the clever one of the bunch. The waitress frowned again, but went away to get their orders. Sora leaned back on his chair and observed with a smirk. "Oh whoops, that was just a group of classmates approaching their table, my mistake."

Riku grumbled, "What are they doing here?"

"…Eating ice-cream? I mean, we are in an ice-cream parlor." Sora was not being a smart-aleck, just literal as he looked around the ceiling. This was an awesome place to be.

"I know that! I mean, why all of them come." Riku growled. The man glared at his dish…that was now gone. "Okay, I know I had a plate here!"

"Oh, I got you a re-fill." Sora remarked without pause.

The teal-eyed boy blinked, then glanced at the boy sitting across from him. "When?"

"When you were steaming over at Kairi."

"I was not-" Riku took a deep breath. He could not be too loud, after all. "Anyways, back to the important part, I though they needed to study for school. Why are they suddenly all here, knowing him and Kairi needed to study?"

Sora frowned at Riku. He looked at the group of students, then looked back at Riku with a surprisingly flat expression, "If you are about to tell me that you think they have plans of world domination, I'm going to have to get up and leave, right here and right now. And I think me and Kairi just might have to break up with you; like, permanently."

"That's not it! Just…they'll be a distraction and make this whole affair last longer." Riku may have said more, but their new dishes were served and Riku dug in like there was no tomorrow, looking peeved and used the ice cream as a substitute to attack his rage on. The server did not look happy with the display of viciousness and merely tossed down some napkins in disgust before walking away.

Sora happily began eating, but after he got a couple spoonful down his throat, he asked, "So, you never though they were a group of evil minions trying to take over the worlds, not even for a moment?"

"Eat the damn ice-cream I'm buying you." Riku mumbled around his spoon. Sora thought so.

Now, this went on for a little longer until their new dishes were almost gone or melted. Riku observed Kairi staring to look uncomfortable. Riku observed Kairi smiley politely, then stood up to walk to the restrooms. Riku observed her pulling out her phone. Riku observed Kairi dialing a number.

Riku's heart did not stop until he heard Sora's cheerful ring tone.

In regards to Sora, he was mid mouth and his heart also stopped when his phone went off.

Another ring went out before both boys acted.

"You dumb-ass! Why didn't you mute your phone?!" Riku tried to maneuver around his treat (unsuccessfully) for Sora.

"Well, excuse me! I didn't think to turn the sound off because I didn't realize we would be stalking our girlfriend this evening!" Sora quickly fumbled getting his phone in an easy grasp, with another ring going off, then he opened it, "Hello?"

Riku did not need to hear Sora's phone to know what was said on the other line; he read Kairi's lips clearly, "Sora? Where are you?" She started looking around for someone else with a cell phone and a familiar ring tone.

"I'm, um…umm." Sora tried to finish for an answer mentally, but pulled out none. He looked to Riku for help. Riku waved his hands and was trying to do some clever charades, but Sora did not understand, so he merely blurred out, "I'm not play charades with Riku!" Riku face palmed.

Yet, that answer distracted Kairi from the hunt of the other phone user and she laughed, "Oh?" Riku saw her lips form.

"Yep, none of that." Sora state quickly, took a deep breath and asked, "So, did your, ah, study session end early?"

"Oh no. Just, some of his friends came by and asked us to go over to one of their houses. I just don't feel like going." Riku did not heart that part; Kairi turned her back away. But Sora let him lean closer to listen to the conversation.

"Ah." Sora replied.

"Can you come pick me up?" Kairi asked finally.

"Um…" Sora looked at Riku. He nodded his head. "Sure, Kairi!"

"Great! I'll be waiting at the parlor-"

Riku shook his head. "No!" Sora exclaimed, still keeping his voice down, though Riku saw Kairi frowning and looking around again for an echo, "Um…" Sora looked at the mess that now appeared on Riku's arm and then got an idea. He grinned mischievously at Riku. "You getting ice-cream gave me an idea. Head over to that little fudge shop and let's get some. I got some idea were I can put some on Riku." He stuck his ice-cream stained tongue out at his partner, somewhat daring Riku to comment about his suggestion.

Riku made an interesting combination of a glare and a blush and sent it to Sora. The blush won over as he saw Kairi giggle and say, "Sounds like fun. I'll be waiting!" Even to this day, it still amazed Riku on what closet perverts his supposed innocent friends were.

They watched Kairi give her farewells to the group, they watched Kairi leave, and they watch the group of people leave. Sora crossed his arms over his chest and smirked, "So, what did we learn today?"

"Shut up, Sora."

Sora blew a raspberry. He then yawned, stretched, and patted the bulge that was his stomach, "Yah, I don't know 'bout you, but I'm gonna have trouble eating stuff off of you. So maybe I'll convince Kairi to do it, kay?"

Riku would have said something to his defense, but the creamery sever came back with a check and Riku tried to control his blush around strangers. Instead, the white-haired boy simply glared at Sora and stated flatly, "We are done for the evening. Thank you." The server walked away and grumbled something under her breath.

Before Riku looked at the check, Sora grabbed his wrist. "Hey, Riku…you know you don't need to worry, right?"

Riku paused, blinked, but smiled, "Yah, I know."

Sora gave him a bright grinned and leaned over to give Riku a small peck on the cheek. Normally, Riku was against public displays of affection, but he smirked and only patted Sora away, "Alright, go distract Kairi. I'll meet you guys later."

He watched Sora retreat, a rare smile only seen on Riku in his moment of true joy or punch drunk after a little too much fighting. He felt pretty good, all fears gone at the moment.

Then he looked down at his bill, and it just all…fluttered away.

"29.47!" Riku shouted. He sighed and gripped his forehead.

---

So perhaps Riku was a bit possessive. But he means well. Really.

---

"Riku?"

"Yes?"

"I appreciate this, I really do. This is a very nice place."

"Thank you."

A small silence, where Kairi took a deep breath, puckered her lips, bite her tongue, and asked, "Riku?"

"Yes?"

"Why did you choose the restaurant that Sora's at?"

"Mere coincidence." He mumbled smoothly.

"If that's the case, why don't I go say hi to Sora and our school's treasurer?" Kairi made no move to get up, but crossed her arms, her legs, and gave Riku a particular glare.

Riku calmly kept looking at the menu, not quite ready to jump up to anything. "First, it might be rude to do that. And may I remind you that while my next comment does not relate to your inquiry, Sora is easily tempted with food and sweeties and sometimes he should be watched." He then set his menu down and folded his palms together, "But since it does not related to why we are here at the same restaurant where Sora is with another woman, I just though it would be nice to treat my girl out. Just the two of us." He grinned smoothly.

Had this been any other woman, they would simply blush and a giggle. However, Kairi was use to his lies, lines and crap by now so she took a deep breath and gave him an awkward smile. "Riku, you made sure to pick a seat so that you could look through the stained window and be able to see what they are doing, but they can't do the same. I know what you are doing and I don't improve. The only reason I don't get up right now is because I had no idea this was where you were taking me until you removed the blindfold and since I don't want to look like a fool in front of the staff and I don't feel like explaining to Sora why he thinks we are stalking him, I'll stay in my seat and enjoy the meal. Afterwards, me and you and possible Sora are going to have a long talk about you and your issues. You understand?"

"Oh look, here comes the waiter." Riku remarked, pulling up his menu to hide his face and totally trying to change the subject. Kairi let it go for the moment and picked up her own menu, still not pleased. "So, what are you going to get?" Riku asked.

"Mmmmm…" Kairi mumbled, "Just getting a Caesar Salad. Comes with a soup."

Riku lowered his menu and started at her in disbelief. He then said, "Did I mention how much I love you right now?"

* * *

I am especially proud of this one. Seriously. It's long, but it's awesome. It was fun.


	9. My child: Roxas

So, this is a companion story to My Child: Terra, except this child is a familiar one in a sense. This would be the second of three children. Three is such a nice number in Kingdom Hearts, after all.

* * *

He's your son, your boy, the spiritual successor of yourself in some ways. You may not be his biological father, but it's your damn name on his birth certificate, so that count for something.

He was the middle child; a couple years younger then Terra, yet older then his twin by a few minutes. Also, he's the only male child, but you supposed it balanced out since Kairi was always the only girl. You would say he was a little more moodier then other children, but while Terra was brassier and out-going, he was more…held back and level headed compared to his older sister. You hopefully think it might have to be due to his gender, but your private thoughts and memories makes your realize gender has little to do with it.

He is the spitten imagine or Sora, besides the blond hair and the expression; more calmer, more gentler, though his face can take similar expressions of shock and joy as his dad. The hair does stand up, but it curls then spikes and it is not as rough as Sora's locks. It's more like Kairi's strands. Not necessarily silky, but soft. The hair color is not even blonde; more of a golden rod, a shade of orange. No one found him being blond strange; Sora's hair lightened when he was younger and there were several toe-heads on his side of the family. And low lights of copper could have from Kairi's side of the family. But you know the reason why. You all know

You have raised him, you watched him grow, you watch him become a teenager and a young man and you always keep wondering the unspoken questions. The memories are on the tip of your tongue, but none you will state that. Not yet, anyways.

He has become a serious person. He has Sora's openness and Kairi's hidden fury, yet he looks up to you more then you would like. When you spar or fight, he follows your movements. Though he'll have Sora's smaller and flexible built and cannot help but to start mimic his techniques.

You are not surprised that at the age of fourteen, the Kingdom Key finds him

He's not Terra. She is her mother's daughter; she knows there is evil in the worlds and is realistic enough not to simply trust anyone, but she loves a lot of good people and knows the world has it's dark side, but equally has it's light. As long as she clings to that light, she would face any danger. Nor is he like his slightly younger sister. She is her father's child; pure, innocent, and believes that everyone has a little light inside them and it just takes time for that light to come out. She is not afraid of the dark, except in a childish way of not knowing what is there. But him, in that regard, he is more like you. He knows that there is great darkness in the people, and that if need be, he would have to be the one to take it on and even somewhat embrace that darkness. Twilight was equally the name of the setting sun or the rising dawn.

Even now, after all these years, there are certain sides of reality you would not bring your lovers into. But you now have someone who can face it and judge it more like you. A little bit of blood, a little bit of pain, a little bit of death; he can take it with cold eyes. You no longer need to have the King by your side in darkness. You have the boy; now you are the teacher.

You have complete faith in him, yet it breaks your heart that he has to do this, but perhaps this will prepare him.

One day, he might realize that his soul is a year old then it should be. That he can recall things that never happened to him.

Only this time, you'll be there. You will save Roxas from his darkness this time.

* * *

So, in my little guilty please universe, Roxas is reincarnated as Kairi's and Sora's son. Because that's what I want! That's how I would love to see a future installment of Kingdom Hearts; with Roxas being reborn. I can write about it, at least.


	10. The Important Parts 1

This one is a first part of a second part that will be a true drabble: Only 100 words. This one is…not. This one is also silly. There is no point, no expression, and no metaphors. Just silly. SILLY SILLY SILLY!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

---

"I'm sorry!" Sora screened and let go if his Keyblade. Without watching it disappear, he looked at Riku, who suddenly bent over and slowly folded to the ground, grabbing his crotch while he dropped. Kairi quickly ran to one of the huts, while Sora ran to Riku.

"Oh god!" Riku groaned out, painful tears in his eyes and he slightly rolled like a turtle on his back on the sand.

"Jeez, Riku! I am really sorry! Me and Kairi were practicing our swings, and we used coconuts since they would not break and they are free, then we eventually decided to play a game with it, and I didn't see you, and I'm sorry, and you know my aim is bad and I'm sorry!" Sora rambled as he dropped next to his best friend, hardly breaking his breath to speak to apologize.

"…I can't feel my legs…" Riku moaned out, eye's somewhat glazed over in a half faint.

Kairi came back and Sora looked up, tears in his eyes, "Kairi! I made Riku a CRIPPLE!"

Kairi knelt down, and opened the box she carried with her. It was a first-aid kit, used for situations such as this. Of course, when the parents gave them the kit, one of the injuries worried about while the children were at play was probably not groin injury caused by coconut-ball. "Okay, I don't think you can break a spine that way." Kairi pulled out an ice pack. "Okay, Riku, this might feel funny, but you'll feel better." She gently placed the ice near the inside of his thigh. "Alright, right, just sliding it up to where it hurts." And then she moved it to cover.

Riku hissed lightly. It was not so much pain of the ice pack touching, but just how cold it felt on such a sensitive area. Kairi gently laid in right on the center and put no more pressure on the wounded area.

Sora stared from the side, looked very much disheveled, but a little calmer after his yelling fit. "Jeez, I am really sorry, Riku! I didn't mean to hit you." Sora pulled at his hair and looked to Kairi, "…He can't die from this, right?"

"Well, I think he only has an acute injury. I mean…there is no bleeding apparent, so…" She looked at the pants, which stayed their blue color.

"Acute? Bull this is acute!" Riku mumbled, a lot clearly and louder then before, but his voice was a few octaves higher. He squirmed, but groaned out again and laid out flat.

"Well, if you want, we could always take you to the doctor." Kairi suggest.

Riku mutter, "I can bare it. I ain't dead." He was not a weakling that needed a doctor.

"Well, maybe we should take you to a doctor…because…I bet that really hurt." Sora stated.

Riku glare up at him, "Yes, Sora, it really hurt. Thank you for your support!" Riku's face the whole time had been an awful shade of purple-red that horribly clashed with his hair. However, his regular skin tone was slowly returning, though changed up to an uncomfortable red at Sora's comment.

"Do you feel like you are about to pass out?" Kairi asked, moving away from the ice and using her hands instead to brush his bangs and hold one of his hands.

"I think…I already did." Riku stated, now looked up at the sky, willing himself to slow his breathing, "I think I blacked out when I got hit. But…I don't feel like it now."

"Okay, how about throwing up?" Kairi asked.

"…The world feels like it's spinning…" He paused, as if thinking, "My guts good. Just light headed."

"Alright, I think you'll be fine." The girl responded. She stopped brushing his hair for a moment to pull out a paper from a kit and checked it over. "Alright, basic first aid treatment is R. I. C. E. Which basically means rise and rinse, depending on the wound."

A silence followed.

"Well, until Riku pees, we won't know if he is bleeding." Sora suddenly blurred out. "And I don't think he can rise his hips up long enough to-"

"You, you just shut now." Riku growled and raised one of his hands to his head

Kairi giggled at them, and Riku gave her a mean glare, but did not make any comments to her; his expression was enough. She simply laughed at the glare and continued the steps, "Well, the second step is to ice. And we already did that." She looks at the third step, and then slightly titters. "Third is to compress."

There was another silence.

Sora opened his mouth, but Riku, even though his eyes were covered with the back of his wrist, replied sourly, "No Sora."

"But-"

"What's the last part, Kairi?" Riku asked.

"..Elevate…" She said, bringing the hand that once brushed in his head to her mouth. "Though, it says for…these types of assaults, you should…support." She replied. "Guess that means…no commando for a while."

Sora chuckled behind his hands while Riku groaned lightly and commented equally lightly. "Give me a few…more minutes. Then…maybe you two can help me on a boat."

"Well, I have carried you before, but that was more you leaning on me half way. I don't know how me and Kairi can carry you to keep it elevated. After all, you are bigger then us and Kairi has the girly arms-" Riku, during Sora's little rant, grabbed the wooden sword he brought with him, and started to whack Sora as hard as he could.

"Just shut up!"

"Ow! I'm sorry I took your manhood away!" Sora replied, defending himself weakly out of guilt and because Riku was not hitting him that hard.

"My manhood is just fine!"

As soon as Riku started swinging his weapon wildly, Kairi stood up and walked away. Actually, she more or less scampered off, anxious about any of the wild blows hitting her. She left with an excused about running to find or make a stretcher. Both boys were caught up with their…pain.

---

Ah, fun. This is part one of part two. Part two is really short, but these are suppose to be drabbles. And after that long one I did about Riku's "Possessiveness," I do not think a short one would be bad. And this one is not really romantic, but it's still the Destiny Trio.


	11. My child: Namine

Because I hate breaking pattern, here is our third and final drabble with Riku looking at his babies. Since Roxas was the last chapter, guess who his twin sister would be?

Disclaimer: Still don't own Kingdom Hearts, but my proposition for a future game would totally include certain Nobodies' reincarnation.

* * *

And she's your daughter, your little girl, the apple of your eye. She has inherited nothing from you, but in some ways, that gives you much relief.

You remember when they were all young; you always loved taking her shopping. You love all your children, but your youngest was the more…docile one. She would not cause a scene. If Terra was in a mood and she did not get a toy she found, the girl would go limp and you would have to drag her out of the store. Roxas was worst; he would throw out-right fits. One time at a library, the little boy's outburst got the suspicion of the Librarian. They thought you were kidnapping him. It did not help that when asked if you were his daddy, Roxas stated, "No." (Of course, this was a miscommunication; Sora was "Daddy" to the kids; "Papa" was your handle. Kairi came and you were very thankful you claimed legal ownership over the twins). But nobody ever question the youngest being your's. While out, she would simply watch everything and be amazed at something as simple as the salad bar. If she did not get her way, she did not throw tantrums or go faint; she would sigh a little sigh and would ware her sadness quietly.

This, of course, meant that she got her way most of the time. You hated seeing her sad.

You use took her shopping as a convenient way to get out of the house and only have to be responsible for one rug-rat. But it changed. Once at the mall, you had all of the kids. It held an indoor romp area and you let them play. You were relaxed. You check them from time to time, letting them have their independence in play. Eventually, a toe-head vanished in one count. You stood up and called out the girl's name, gazing around. You were only slightly worried; she could not have gotten far. In a matter of seconds, you spotted her near a display and relaxed for a moment. Only for a moment.

There was a man, knelt down looking at the display with her, and touching her back.

You never knew such a feeling could exist. It was cold and hot at the same moment. You rushed over and called the child. She looked innocently at you. So did the strange man. You pulled her to you and glared down at the man, just daring him to try another touch. But he did not. He gave you this fearful look and stood up quickly before nearly jogging away. She had been eight or ten at the time. He may not have planned something, but maybe he was.

That night, you did not sleep. After everyone else went to sleep, you watched the twins in their room, and rethought everything. Now when someone took any of the kids shopping, especially the youngest, you followed as much as you could, watching.

Now that they were right at the brink of adulthood, you realized how beautiful your baby really was and what it could mean.

It's not the older men you are afraid of, the ones closer to your age: To veteran warriors or to local shopkeepers. When offering help, the blonde girl will give them reassuring smiles, gentle hugs, or respectful words. When they see the girl, they'll give her tender smiles, private laughter, or even the occasionally fluster. You understand; they think of younger days, their own young daughters, or even on meeting their wives and first loves. They are too good of men and too full of honor to even think about harming a child.

Surprisingly, it's not the hot heads that you fear so much, either. Too emotional filled barely men, like you were once prior to everything. They try to impress each other with words and taunts. When she sees their actions, she frowns, given them glares, or holds her head up high and ignores any leers to her direction. You agree they are not worth the trouble. When they see her, they are either annoyed with her small form or for those who desire such a form try to impress her. Or, for those she really sends to rage, they may make loose threats. None of them will try anything, their minds have not caught up with the bodies, but it will change soon. But you don't worry. They get one look at you, or any other members of her family and friends and they realize that messing with her would be dangerous.

And it's not even the hopeful ones, their future grasp with a sword or a spell. When she is with them, she gives them hopeful looks, soft speeches of encouragement, and the special ones are rewards with shy smiles and even a blush. And after that, their eyes get wide, and they sport goofy grins or even their own disguised moments of embarrassment, with dreams of victories and princesses dancing in their mind. Most would think you would be protective of her or fearful of loosing her to Mr. Right. But it's not them. If one day she brings home some boy, you'll accept him. She could end up with worst.

Someone like you.

And that's your fear. Those people, man or other wise, out there whom simply see her and want one thing; her innocence. It applies to the pureness of her heart, her soul, and her body. You know dark thoughts; you were one of those men once. Maybe not as terrible as some, but you have worked with the worst and know how they think.

Even knowing all this, knowing Naminé's is in danger, there are many more who would protect her life. It lets you sleep at night.

* * *

This one is a bit different from the other two. I was hoping in each one to be a little different, as a parent loves their children a bit different, but this one came out so much so. As compared to Terra or Roxas, I'd imagine Riku would be more fearful for Naminé. In the other two, worries for Terra, but he is worried that she will fall into darkness instead of being attacked by those that wield it. In that regard, it would be clearly that he does not treat Terra like a sweet little girl. Instead, Terra's is what he wishes to be while Roxas, as apposed to being a student, becomes somewhat of a partner. Also, I wanted to write about a bond between a father and a daughter in which the father views himself as the protector, which unfortunately is not done enough in Kingdom Heart fan fiction. I'll probably write about his "paterialness" more in future stories.

**Also, I've reached the 1000+ hit mark! *Does a cheer* Sorry these are being posted so slowly; I have a lot of other months completed, but I have other project, too. Not to mention real life. When I started this thing, I did not have a job. So, I am working on Febuary's, with plans for March's, and one done for April's. However, since there has been 1000 hits in about a year, I am giving someone to opportunity to suggest a prompt for me. It might not be out until the summer, but I'll put a dedication to you and anything else. Make it a good one, or I won't do it!**


	12. The Important Parts 2

And here was last year's final story. From 2009 to 2010. It's short, but I love it all; cross dressing, whether it's girls in drag or boys in drag. Here is my Christmas to myself! An honest drabble and part two of the important parts. I forgot I finished correcting this, but at least I'm only half a year behind.

* * *

Riku frowned. He had no idea why Kairi thought him wearing mascara would help him forgive Sora for almost killing him a week ago.

Though seeing Kairi strut around the room with his shirt hanging off her frame…and the way Sora's baggy pants kept sagging down hips…

Call him possessive, by she looked great in her mens' clothes.

Then the bathroom door opened. "Hey Kairi, you were right: Your uniform fits!" And Sora came without make-up and in a skirt.

Riku stared, surprised it worked both ways. "Kairi, I forgive Sora and I love you." Riku stated.

"Yah, I know."

* * *

It's short, but cool. Since I'm broke this year, this is my gift to myself instead of my tablet. I have a car now. Since I'm still behind, May's is still open for anyone to try. February's is long and April's is already done. March's is gonna be short, too.


	13. The idea spreads

Happy New Year and such! First story of 2010! I was ahead, but work has slowed me down.

…

I have really nothing to say. This next little story is a sequel to the second chapter. I like sleepovers!

Disclaimer: I've picked up 358/2 Days, but I don't even own that; I rented it. Therefore, I really don't own much, including the series.

* * *

After the first time, it was not quite as awkward as before: Sleeping next to one another. Not anything dirty. Just curled up together in rest.

Now it was trying it in other places. The familiar beach and beach house and bend were the easiest to fall asleep. The tricky part was being aloud to go there by themselves without anyone worrying about them sneaking off. The first night was a nice one; they built a fire, joked quietly and talked about the good points of their adventure. This time, Kairi was the first one to crash. She nodded off against Riku's shoulder. It was a silent signal for the other two to lie back and watch the fire burn out. By morning, Kairi was the one to rouse them with a breakfast of cooked clams and fresh fruit.

Sora's house was an established favorite. There was always the fold out couch or Sora's almost too-small bed or anywhere else they could manage. Sora's mother certainly was nice about the situation. Sora had watched her paused or somewhat flinch every now and then when seeing the three cuddled against one another watching television, but quickly after would shake her head and chuckled or tsk and walk away to finish her house activity she had set on doing. She checked on them innocently enough; straitening blankets, asking them if they were hungry, reminding them of assignments they needed to finish. Riku and Kairi had to wonder if she sort of guessed what was happening. When confronted, Sora would simply shrug and go back to eating or whatever they had been doing. The other two did not wan to bring it up to the woman, so those questions remained in the air.

Kairi's had not been attempt as of yet and there was little doubt that they actually would try. Kairi's mother and father were nice and if there was any outrage to her again hanging out with either boy again after her disappearance, they never said. Kairi was using Selphie's name less and Riku's and Sora's name more as the places were she would hang out or spend the night. In a similar manner as Sora's mother, they would pause every time asked. However, simple questions of if there would be a parent around and if school assignments finished or done later at the other house. If both answers were yes, then Kairi usually received permission (after phone calls to the actual parents). She could not go out to the island for a night unless there was no school in the morning, which suited Kairi fine (as she could always sneak off if she needed to). The only somewhat ironic part was she could not go if she was going with just one boy; they both had to be at least present.

Riku's location was a test tonight. Riku's only family was a father. He was a carpenter by trade who also helped built boats in his spare time.

Once upon a time, Riku from age thirteen to fifteen would coastally get into fights with the man. It had been a mixture of many issues, including Riku's mother's death three years prior and the feelings still lingering from that tragedy. Those emotions, plus Riku's hormones and his stir-craziness to leave the island as well as his father's more grounded and cool attitude on things meant Riku had spent many nights at Sora's house or just somewhere away.

Upon his return home and merely standing on his front step after knowing he had left after a bad fight, which had involved physically striking the man, Riku did not have high hopes. Yet, he still knocked. He expect the shock on the older man's face, whom seem to have aged more like ten years instead of barely four years (Then again, Riku stood almost eye-level to him, so people could change a lot). But even though it had been such a long time, the man clearly recognized him. He asked, "Riku?" in a hoarse whisper. Riku was not sure if it was a bad or good sign, but he turned his eyes away quickly, not wanting to see any anger, disappointment, or judgment for the old man. He expected physical contact, but Riku was waiting for a punch or a door in his face. Not the suddenly confinement and pressure that made the breath leave his lungs. The man trapped his arms to his side and he could not move. And he figured it out. The man was hugging him. Riku could not move to embrace in return, but Riku was not sure if he could even if his hands were free. The strength left him and his body went limp. His father made up for it by embracing him tighter. Riku did something he did not think he would have ever done in the man's presence: He cried.

That had been months ago and they returned to their usual habit of quiet to non-existent conversation. It was not like there was any fighting. After the first couple of nights of honesty and story telling on Riku's part, they simply did not talk. There was hesitation with each word spoken, especially if the conversation turned heated.

Of course, all three of them had these moments of uncertainty. Kairi and her family dealt with it by switching subjects, and then speak about it carefully to one another when each party had time to dedicate themselves with each other. Sora and his mom would smile or frown or display whatever they suddenly felt and talk about it openly if it arose. But Riku and his father came from a generation of men that did not speak about their feelings and expressed emotions through explosive emotions, like anger. They had the moment on the porch, but there had been several years of parting; excused enough for weakness. So of course he had not told his father he was sleeping with both his best friends at the same time, even if they all did it in the platonic sense.

Riku had asked if both Sora and Kairi could stay the night and Riku had gotten permission. Riku's father had left, with the chance of him returning late tonight or early in the morning. Riku did not ask where he went, just how long he was going to be gone. Riku's father asked what they would be doing, not how long his friends would be staying. The only additional question was if Kairi's father knew where she was staying. It was partly out of being use to Sora coming over as he pleased without permission and partly respect for the Mayor of their island. Riku did notice that his father looked to Sora the same moment, as if wondering if Sora needed the same bit of permission. Riku only answered the questions he was asked.

It was a nice evening, really. Riku dug up some old board games that opened last time during his single-digit child. They went out, got some food, and came back to eat. They had started late and the moon was high by the time they unfolded around each other to relax. Sora wiggled between the two of them, but as usual nodded off first. Kairi had relaxed against Sora's side but as always reached out for some part of Riku if he was the farthest away. Riku let out his hand and she was content with that.

He felt himself drifting off and Riku felt a bad dream come on, but a door slammed and snapped Riku away before he delved deep into his unconsciousness memories. He felt dazed, but he did not feel a threat. Then he heard a bottle set on the counter and felt a different type of fear. He tried to stand up, but somehow Sora had laid down on him across his lap. It might have been cute when they were six, but not at sixteen. He cursed under his breath and tried to shift the other boy off, but the boy would not let go! As soon as Riku got out of being a pillow, he rushed up to look into the kitchen. He froze for a moment. It seemed his father wanted to come in quietly and froze in a similar manner. There was a stare-off, yet it was not a battle.

"Oh, Riku, come back…" Kairi mumbled and both father and son turned to look to that spot. Riku also realized the dining room could clearly see over the couch to the living room at the sprawled mess of bodies they had made. For a second time, Riku did something he never thought he would do in front of the old man; he blushed.

The older man shook his head and let out a sigh. Then he looked at Riku and nodded his head before turning around. Riku gulped, then licked his lips, only sparing a look back at his two friends before following. The old man was sitting on the porch and Riku let out a sigh of his own before taking a seat next to him.

There was a silence for a good minute, with only the local night-time wildlife chirping and such in the breeze. From his pocket, Riku's father pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He took one draft out of it, then simply held it in his fingers and letting a breath out. Then he spoke, "I don't know what you are doing and I don't care to know."

"Look, sir, its not-" Riku began, feeling a mixture of embarrassment and irritation at the situation.

But the adult waved his hand to silence his son, "As I said, I don't care to know." He paused, seemly selecting his words. "I'm not going to ask about it, either. You're not a kid." He took another hit off the white stick. "But, this is not like when you left…when you were gone." Even though the older man had tried to correct himself, Riku heard that last word escape. Yes, Riku left and that guilt would be eating away at him for a long while. "That I had every rite to know what was going on. This is…a…particular situation. I understand. I was a young man once, I understand about urges and such." Then the old man shook his head back and forth, "Look, just don't do anything stupid."

Now the guilt was replaced by discomfort. Riku buried his face in his hands, "Thanks." He wanted to crawl away from the conversation. Riku was surprised out of everything he could still feel such childish shame. If only the villains in the universe knew that the great Keyblade Master of Darkness could be felt by a simple conversation implying "relations" with his friends.

"Hey, I'm not disappointed. I'm not. And…I'm not that surprised either." Another inhale of nicotine, "Kiddo's mom mentioned something, but I didn't think she meant something like that." A pause. "Your mother would be better at dealing with this." The last sentence came out more gentle and was probably more said to himself then Riku. His father's gruff tone returned for the next words, "But, when it comes down to it…You could be doing worst things." And he put the cigarette to his mouth, balancing it in his lips.

Riku understood what he meant. And it made Riku think of one thing that King Mickey request he promised to never do, but did. "I know. I won't be making the same mistakes again. I promise." He had told his father some of the adventures he had, whether they were good parts or bad. Riku understood the need for the World Order, but he owed the man that much, an explanations. Of course, the version he illiterate was quite condensed, but he figured some of the parts were things the mouse royal would probably have not wanted said outside of those who needed to know.

Riku ponder about Mickey for a brief moment. The mouse man had become a mentor, a friend, and a second father to him over the whole ordeal. It was hard to make contact, of course. But he had to wonder how Mickey would feel about this whole situation. That was a can of worms, to be certain. It was nerve racking to think of loosing that being's approval. It helped that when he imagined Mickey's reaction, when he settled his mind into a peaceful place; the little king went wide eyed and then would chuckle merrily.

His father's next words broke his daydream, "That's nice and all, but what I mean about doing worst things I mean, literally, you could be doing worst things."

Riku blinked, not quite understanding his words. He glanced at the man, a clear, quizzical look on his face. The man simply shrugged, then gestured his head back inside the house. Riku did not quite get it until the barest hint of a grin appeared on the old man's face. Then the darkness surrounding them served perfectly to hide the fluster that now blanched onto his skin. "That's not…we're not!" He could find not other words to counter such a statement.

"Like I said, I don't want to know." The older man put his cigarette out and stood up, mumbling as he moved, "I'm not ready to be a grandfather yet. Just remember that." He turned back a moment to look at Riku, pointing at the young man. "And I don't yet want to be in-laws with the Mayor or…" He took a gulp, as if swallowing things like his pride and dignity, "The other one." With his peace said, Riku's father turned back into the house.

Riku stayed outside for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts and his deference into a pile. Once he felt in some sort of order, he stood up and walked back into the house. Judging by the closed door of the man's bed room, his father was either going back to sleep or wanted to be left alone. The young man took a deep breath. Well, it went better then expected. He peered around into the living room and saw Kairi's head peeking out from the side of the cushion. It was kind of cute; seeing those big, charming eyes looking to him with worry and with her little fingers gripping the edge and her hair just ever so tilted to the side and her nose just barely poked over the side. She did not say a word; Sora was the one who spoke for the both of them. "Um, Riku? What's…up?" Sora called from his spot on the other side of the couch.

Riku opened his mouth to reply, but his father spoke for the both of them, "If you are going to do that sort of stuff, go do it in your room. That's why you have one!" He did not sound exactly anger…exactly. Annoyed, maybe.

Riku blinked and slowly came back to reality, wondering if his father was psychic or not. He shook his head and fixed a nervous gaze to his friends (Sora had decided to now pop his head over the furniture to look). "Well, you heard the old fart. Clean up the blankets."

* * *

Though I'm not going to change dates in any previous stories I've done, but did you know it took Sora about 20 days to get to Castle Oblivion? Then about another for him and Riku to actually to get through it? Fun facts. Puts a nice perspective on how long each game may have been.

This story surprised me. I was not planning onto write much about Riku and his family's relations, but once I wrote a few paragraphs to the point where father and son meet, there was a ton more that needed to be said and…it just came out. I did not put much between Sora and his mother in the first story, but that had been more about the trio then their family. I'll make up for it, I promise! More family stuff!

Hopefully with having my computer to myself all again, I can actually catch up and post these beauties quicker!

I am also still taking a request for a prompt!


	14. Valentine Day Part 1

Originally, there was suppose to be something funny here with the Radiant Garden folks, but it's February and I wanted to do a short about Valentine's Day, which will lead into one about White Day. I find the whole concept to be cute; the girls give guys homemade chocolates (and give big ones to their favorite boy) and later in March, the boys return the gesture by giving little presents back, typically something white. Kind of cute.

Disclaimer: I forget if I put it down or not for the last couple of stories, but in case I did not, I do not own Kingdom Hearts and I make no money off this story.

* * *

Kairi could never recall making chocolates prier to her time on the island. She was not even sure if her home world held a similar Holiday. But ever since coming to Destiny Islands, it was a tradition.

Still somewhat shy and new to the whole situation, she was not sure what her new mother was doing one day in the kitchen. The woman was kind and encouraged the little girl to explore the house to ask question and participate in every activity she did. Once seeing the girl was awake from her nap, the woman offered her a bright smile and beckoned her to approach. The adult already reached for a small apron as Kairi pulled up a stool.

There were many trays of small molds on the counter; all of them were different shapes and sizes of seashells. There were odd assortment of ribbon and little bags to the side, still stacked nicely as if never used. She turned back to watch the older woman stir something dark in two pots and smelt something heavily in the air. It must be some sort of dessert. Kairi turned fully around on the stool and watched as the brown, melty stuff was stirred over and over again carefully.

"What are you doing?" Kairi asked, looking inside the pot with a frowned.

"I am making chocolate shells, dear." The woman replied.

"Why?" It was quite a favorite word of Kairi's since coming around.

"Because it's tradition." The woman said as she turned off the stove and slowly stirred the chocolate. "Now watch." She picked up the pan and lifted it off the stove. With a few steps, she was over the table and poured the contents into the molds. Kairi watched with wonder as each little container filled to the brim. Once done, the pot found a place back on the stove with one hand while the dial was turn back with the other. "Now, would you like to stir for a little? I need to put these in the fridge."

Kairi was eager to help and nodded, pushing her little stool up to the stove. She looked up at the kind woman. She was given a lovely smile and these instructions, "Now, don't touch the chocolate or the pan; it's still hot. But if we don't stir it, the bottom will burn out." Kairi nodded and did as she was told. Of course, she got distracted a little while watch where the treats were disappearing to, but nothing burned.

Once the chocolate vanished, the woman explained, "I'm making chocolates for some of the people on the island."

"Why?" Kairi asked, starting for a moment before remembering her task and quickly stirred the chocolate.

"Because it's Valentine's Day."

"What's that?"

The lady seemed to blink in confusion, but chuckled behind her hands. "Well, it's a day where you give chocolates to the men you like."

"Why do you give them chocolate?" Kairi asked the question more automatic while she was looking at how yummy and funny the chocolate looked while melted.

"Because…well, to show appreciation to them." Confident with that answer, the woman went over to the other pot and turned another knob up, "Usually to boys you like. But these are going to the workers on the island."

The woman started to turn the other mixture, which Kairi noticed was a lot darker then the chocolate in her bowl. "As the wife of the Mayor of the island, I show my appreciation to the people who help my husband. Such as the mail carriers, the maintenance workers, and the island guards. It is simply a nice courteous." The woman finished thoughtfully.

"Oh." Kairi did not completely understand the word, but she understands enough where she cannot think up another question on subject. Therefore, she chooses another question on an obvious topic. "Why is one colored different?"

"The one you are mixing is milk chocolate while the one I'm mixing is dark chocolate. People like different flavors." She explained calmly as she gave the darker concoction some attention. "I usually make a batch of milk, and batch of dark, and I make a mixture of the two the Mayor."

"Why?"

"Well Kairi, the traditional reason a woman makes chocolates is to give it to the men in her life. It shows that she loves and appreciates him. And I know what he likes." The older woman replied with a crooked smile on her face. "I've been giving the Mayor chocolates for…oh, about 25 years now. No reason to stop this year."

Kairi thought about those words. It sort of made sense. You give something out of appreciation and since girls were suppose to be cooks; it made sense for girls to give boys food. She was not sure why chocolate was the choice (besides it was yummy on cake and ice cream), but the logic behind the gift was something Kairi could grasp.

"Can…can I make a chocolate?" Kairi asked, a little hopeful and fearful.

The woman appeared to be surprised at the question, but a bright grin appeared on her face. "Oh, I have just the shell for you!"

Later in the evening when the sun was setting and the staff workers were done for the day, the Mayor arrived house. He smelt the familiar sent in the air and prepared himself for an event that had been happening for the last quarter of a century. He sat in his chair and waited for his wife to come out. He was only briefly taken aback at seeing the little ruby head of hair to poke out first, he recognized little Kairi, the mysterious girl they had taken in only months before. He would have greeted her more efficiently, but she already poked back into the kitchen. He was perplexed for a moment, but he made no move to get up. He waited to see what the girls were up to. Soon, he saw his wife and Kairi walk out, both with hands behind on their. He felt confused, but it entwined with a bit of joy.

His wife handed him a small box with her undoubtedly lovely chocolate inside. But Kairi held out a little box of her own and replied softly, "Thank you for letting me into you home, sir." He only paused momentary, before he nodded, chuckled, and patted the little girl's head while reached out for the box with the other hand.

Kairi never remembered if she made chocolates on her home world, but the first boy she remembered ever giving a chocolate to was her father.

(V)

The next year, she did not make one just for daddy. Oh no. She was a lot bigger now and she could even properly ride a bike and swim now! She, as always, helped mommy in the kitchen for all the hard workers on Destiny Island. But because she was older, she learned that you were really supposed to give chocolates to all the boys, and then they would give you a present a month later! Last year, daddy gave her some play earrings that looked exactly like mommy's pearl ones. She still wore them forever festival just so they would match.

There were not a lot of children her age on the island, let alone boys. But there were four boys she saw on a daily basis and considered friends.

There was Tidus. He was a happy and funny blonde kid. He would help her build sandcastles, usually by surveying the design of the moat. This was very important, as he told her all the time. He also helped gather the supplies for it. Tidus also was the one who would check on all the repairs for the houses and shacks and such. Kairi felt bad that nobody else would really helped him and decided to always assist him. She was not that strong, but she tied very good knots! The only problem was Tidus was a little too rough and always wanted to play sports when they weren't playing with sand castles or repairing the huts. Even though she did not always like to play with Tidus, he was still a friend and deserved a chocolate.

Wakka was nice, too. He was the oldest kid there, so he always made sure all the other boys played fair, especially Tidus. He was also a sporty time, but he never forced anyone to play. However, once he started to play, he got obsessed. Kairi liked him and looked up to him, but he seemed to be busy with something else and Kairi did not want to bug him. But he was the one who taught Kairi how to swim properly. And he always shared his lunch, so he also got a chocolate. He gave her a big smile after his chocolate and patted her head like the one daddy does, so it was nice, too.

Then there was Riku and Sora. She always thought of them together because they were always together. Always. It was never just Sora or just Riku. It was both. And she liked it. They had to be her two bestest friends. Even though Selphie made her pinky promise that they were best friends, Kairi figured that only applied to girls with girls and boys with boys; Riku and Sora were best friends and Selphie and Kairi were best friends and Tidus and Wakka were best friends. But Selphie seemed to be bestest friends with Wakka and Tidus, so that meant Kairi was bestest friends with Sora and Riku.

Kairi liked Sora, a lot. He was very happy and he was funny. He liked to play adventure, but he wasn't rough with her. He let her have the non-rough jobs; like goal keeper or she played princess a lot! One time, Sora showed her the secret place. He told her him and Riku found it, but Riku wouldn't draw on the wall with him because only babies drew on walls, Riku said. She did not think it was a baby thing to do so she drew with Sora. They drew each other. She thought Sora was a very good artist. He was very hyperactive and he usually ran ahead of everyone, but he always came back for whomever he left behind.

Kairi also liked Riku just as much! Riku was older then both her and Sora (Kairi was not sure how old she was, but everyone guessed she was Sora's age), but only by a year. At first, Riku scared her a little, but they started talking. He sounded so grown up, kind of like mommy and daddy. Kairi like hearing the stories and she liked it more when she could help him with ideas when something didn't work in the story. One time a bigger kid teased her for not having a real mom and dad. Riku punched him. She did not like that Riku got hurt, but she made it better by fixing his boo-boos and told nobody what happened.

Even thought Kairi always thought of them together, she gave each of them their own chocolate, just because they were her bestest friends. But because they were best friends, she waited until they were together before she gave them each their chocolates.

Sora dropped his in the sand, but he ate it anyways.

(V)

The third time the holiday came around, Kairi gave chocolates the same as usual. Everyone got a chocolate and thanked her. She was eight by now and had made the island a home for three years and no longer a stranger to people. She would make some later tonight with mommy, but this morning she made her own special ones (Of course, she had adult supervisor and help, but she pour them all this time buy herself!) for her friends.

Tidus was sick today, but Selphie said she would deliver it and her own chocolate later today when she went to visit him. Kairi was grateful since Tidus had something that made him spotted and daddy did not want her to catch it. She heard them talking and mommy though it would be good for Kairi to catch it now so she would not get badly sick later on. Kairi was not sure what that meant, but adults could be weird.

Wakka was the first boy she spotted on the island, so she gave him his chocolate. He smiled, patted her head, and munched on his right away, saying he forgot to eat breakfast in the morning because his mommy was sick, too. But he said he felt very lively today and he needed to practice for swimming. He said the chocolate was good for that and with only a thank-you, he dove into the water.

Kairi spent sometime watching him in the waves and occasionally going off a near-by cliff to jump off while she collected some shells. She was becoming really good and crafting and sewing (her mommy and teacher said so!) and she wanted to use some more stuff. The shells she found on the beach made a pretty noise when they clanged together. And sometimes real treasure did wash up on the shore! Kairi had found a few pretty rocks here and there. A couple months ago, Tidus and Sora found a wood crate filled with a whole bunch of bottles with amber-colored liquid. Riku and Tidus got their daddies to come and inspect it. The grown-ups laughed at the bottles and identified them as an adult drink, called Whisky. The two grown-ups took a bottle, but let the kids keep one to use as a torch light (Actually, Tidus' daddy let them all have a sip when Riku's daddy left to check for more containers on the other side). Kairi was not sure why there were so many different ones; daddy had a whole section of the basement dedicated to wine and he would drink something called bourbon once or twice a week.

The little girl found her fifth sand dollar when Riku called out. Kairi smiled happy. "Hi Riku." She greeted once he got close enough to hear her voice.

"Hey." The nine-year old boy greeted, and then looked at her wet and slightly dirty hands. "Wha'cha doing?"

"Getting material." She replied, but slid her shell in her collecting pouch to grab her other small bag, "But I wrapped your chocolate up so it won't be dirty." With seeing her duel chocolates, she gazed around, "Where's Sora?"

"We raced to the island and I won." Riku replied, and then grinned, "Of course."

Kairi chuckled and shook her head. Boys were silly with their games. Mommy said all boys were like that and the sooner you get use to it, the sooner you can wash her hands of it. Kairi was not sure what washing her hands had to do with it, but Kairi sort of understood what it meant. But she supposed he won, he should get a prize. "Here you go!" Oh, and it might distract him for the race.

"Thanks." He said and opened the chocolate slowly. Kairi had a feeling that his mommy told him to be polite like that, but it only made her smile wider. Riku was cute like that! He was polite and daddy said he was a gentleman (though mommy said she knew that it was only an act, but Kairi made her pinky promise to not tell daddy). He did not eat the chocolate slowly; he took a vicious bite out of the shell.

And Sora came barreling to them. Riku and Kairi heard him before he arrived. Kairi chuckled at Sora slightly tripped on the sand when he finally made it to them. Riku laughed, "Took you long enough." Riku finished with a mean smirk.

Kairi already moved over and looked down at Sora, touching one hand to her knee. "You cheated!" Sora called, taking deep breaths. He looked up and saw Kairi, so he then pleaded to her, "Kairi, he cheated!"

"Quit being a baby." Riku jeered, as if Sora was tattling on him to their mommies instead of Kairi. The girl chuckled again. Silly, silly boys.

Once Sora saw the wrapping in Riku's and Kairi's hand, he forgot about the race and became interested in the treats. "Oh, is that one for me!" Sora cheered.

Kairi nodded eagerly and handed his gift as well. "I don't think he deserves it." Riku called out, but simply turned away and munched on his gift with a bigheaded look on his face. Sora, unlike Riku, tore his apart in a mad rush. Daddy said Sora had something that spelled ADHD, but Mommy said Sora just was a happy and excitable child and it was good for a boy to be that way. Kairi did not know what ADHD was (though Kairi could spell pretty well now), but Sora was happy and excitable.

He pulled out the chocolate, but before he bit into it, he blinked, "Oh."

"What?" Kairi asked, curious and feeling a bit nervous at his expressions.

"Well, the thing is, um…" Sora looked down at his feet and mumbled, "I don't like dark chocolate."

"Oh." Kairi said equally reserved, looking at the treat in Sora's palm. True, last year she gave out milk chocolate, but Kairi did not know Sora did not like dark chocolate.

Riku slapped Sora, "Idiot, you aren't suppose to tell girls that! You accept the chocolate with a smile, even if you don't like it. Don't you know anything!"

"Hey, I was just being honest! My mommy tells me honesty is the best policy."

"Yah, well, Ma told me that you accept anything anyone gives you because it's rude to refuse a gift!"

While the two boys argued, Kairi thought on how she felt. She was not sad. Sora was not being mean or anything, but now that she thought about what Sora ate (which he did a lot of), she could not remember him munching on dark chocolate. She looked at his treat, which he still kept close to him. She then smiled and reached out for it.

"And my mommy did so like that frog I-huh?" Sora stopped his argument about cool gifts when she pulled the box from his hands. "Oh wait, I'm sorry! I'll really like it and I'll eat it-"

"How about I turn this to milk chocolate and give it to you tomorrow?" Kairi replied sweetly.

Sora blinked and looked at the candy in her hand, "You can do that?"

"Yep." They still had some extra chocolate at home.

Sora blinked again, "How…?"

"It's magic." She simply stated. She could be truthful, but this seemed more fun.

"Really?" Sora asked with wonder, looking between the chocolate and Kairi. Kairi thought he was trying to figure out which one was more magical.

Riku smiled meanly and wrapped Sora in a noogie. Sora squealed and try to wiggled out, but under Riku's arm he could do nothing. Riku stopped the assault, but kept Sora in a headlock, "No, stupid. She just adds milk to it. That's why it's called milk chocolate." Kairi was actually not sure if that was how it worked. Mommy always prepared the chocolate, but it made perfect sense and Riku was very smart. Maybe Kairi would ask Mommy tonight.

Riku let go of Sora. Kairi giggled behind her hands while Riku openly chuckle. Sora looked mad, but then he grinned brightly. "Hey Kairi? Riku likes filling in his chocolate, but he won't tell you because he's too much of a scary cat to tell you." Kairi blinked, and looked innocently at Riku. She wanted to ask, 'Really,' but Kairi saw Riku turn an interesting color and then punched Sora's shoulder.

Silly, silly boys.

(V)

The year rolled around again, but Kairi actively sought out Riku first. He would get his chocolate first. Kairi told Sora already and he did not complain. He nodded sadly and pointed to Riku's little island. Kairi gave him a sad smile and walked along the beach. Selphie and Tidus were clam hunting and greeted her with a wave.

"Hey Kairi, I found some cool shells! Want to see if you can make stuff out of them?" Selphie asked with a bright smile on her face.

Kairi smiled back, though not so cheerful, "Maybe later, I'm gonna go talk to Riku."

"Oh, um…he's not in a good mood." Tidus warned, looking over at the stoic figure that Riku had become.

"It'll be fine." Kairi simply stated. She knew she would be okay.

"Well, okay, but if you change or mind…" The blonde boy left the invitation open. Kairi shrugged, continuing on her path.

The young girl did not see Wakka leaning against the side at first, but Wakka's gaze into the cave where they sometimes venture into at the risk of false danger. Kairi was about ready to greet him properly, but Wakka turned and gave her a large smile, "Hey there, ocean girl."

"Hi." She simply replied. Kairi's only motive today was to make one of her friends feel better, the one that needed it the most. Wakka nodded to Kairi as she passed by, Kairi nodded back but continued on. She was not trying to be rude, but she had a mission.

Wakka seemed to understand and his grin changed to a gentle beam. "You go make it better, ya?"

Kairi hopped she could.

The ocean did not stop, the sun still beamed down, and the wind blew gently, but with each step over the bridge, Kairi felt something…cooler. She stopped in the middle of the small piece of land and started at Riku's back. "Riku?" She called out gently.

Riku made no reply. Kairi knew he heard her, but as it had been for the last couple of days, Riku would row in the early mornings, make his way to his perch, and just sit and stare at the ocean until the sun vanished underneath the waves. Kairi took a deep breath and continued her journey. Her feet seemed to be louder then any other time she crossed the plank. She kept moving until her feet made a shifting sound instead of a clopping one. "Riku? Do you mind…if I give you something?"

Riku still made no sound, but since he had not screamed at her as he did Sora when he approached before, she considered it a silent approval. She was not frightened for her physical safety; Riku had never once hurt her before. But this was an unknown scenario and anything else could happen.

She came around and cooed quietly, "Riku." She got a good look at his face, and was not pleased with the result. Riku, like her, had skin fairer compared to many kids on the island. Kairi's own red locks linked with her lighter completion. Riku was darker then Kairi's and developed a proper tan, but his skin had an almost…rosy quality of the inside of a couch shell while her own was more of the creamy shade on the outside. When they were younger, Riku's face was pink-tinted, especially his red cheeks he often held after playing in the sun all day. Standing this close, Kairi could clearly see his cheeks held a slightly darker hue then the rest of her skin, like sun kissed blush. Kairi only spotted the change in tint because an ugly black hung under Riku's eyes while the whites of them were red.

She wanted to hug him right there and tell him everything would be okay. But she knew Riku did not like to be coddled and only let Kairi get close when they were alone. She would not press it yet. Instead, she looked down at the box in her hand. "I made it for you." She stated as she opened the package. He at least turned to look at the contents. It gave Kairi hope. She continued, "Remember, Sora said you liked filling? Last year?" She smiled, hoping the happy memory would make Riku act a little more like a person.

But after Riku looked inside the box, he turned back to look out into the ocean. Kairi sighed, but she would not give up until she was sure nothing would work. "Want me to sit with you?" And she made sure to add the word 'want' in the beginning. Because she wanted him to want her company.

Riku said no words, but he gazed at her once out of the corner of his eye and shrugged his shoulders. It was enough of a yes for Kairi to take a spot on the tree. Of course, she kept her distance, but there was less then a foot of space.

Kairi remembered waking up and realizing she had no family. Kairi remember how Sora would get on the adversary of his father's death. But both feelings lacked something sharp. There was pain and mourning, but it felt different. Kairi did not remember her family, and could only question who they were, what were they like, and where they were now and feel distressed without that knowledge. She had a new family that loved her and took care of her and she could not mourn for people she did not know. Sora had brief memories of his father, but the man died when he was three; Sora would stare sometimes at his reflection, knowing once upon a man shared his same features. Yet, it was in his nature to be happy and look forward then backward.

Riku had just lost his mother, and he was at a standstill.

Kairi did not wish him to suddenly be all better. Riku deserved to mourn. Kairi just wanted to help the pain. "You can eat it later, I don't mind. And you can tell me if you don't want it." Kairi sat the box between them and merely looked down at the sand on the ground. She counted the seconds in her head. On the 39th second, he reached for the package. Kairi made sure not to acknowledge it.

He ate the treat slowly, and quietly replied, "It's good."

"Thank you." Kairi replied, shocked by actually hearing words spoken after so long. However, she did not leave quite yet. Even though she owed chocolate to all her other friends, they would forgive her if she was one day late. They both stayed silently, listening to the waves and watching the sun move to its high noon.

Riku's breath broke for one moment, but Kairi caught the intake. She remembered incidences of him covering his eyes as if the sun was bugging him or he had a headache. For this little moment, she suspected something else. But, he kept the hurried breaths, probably not wanting to show weakness while Kairi was around. When she saw his palm clench and unclench the tree, she acted.

They were sitting so close to one another, it was not hard for Kairi to suddenly scoot over and lean against him, wrapping one of her slim arms around his waist. Riku seemed to have stopped breath and she could feel his gaze down at her. She looked up at him with a shy smile and whispered, "Its okay, I won't tell." And she already looked back at the sun.

Kairi felt the three deep breaths before Riku slid an arm around her back and pulled her closer. Then she heard his heart-wrenching gasp. He started to pinch her a little with his grip. She did not mind, through. Tomorrow, Selphie or Sora might taunt them about being so close. Selphie would at least comment about it, but Kairi would not feel bad if Riku brushed it off as her being a silly little girl. If anyone saw them, they would not see Riku being weak.

(V)

Kairi had reached double digits. This meant she was much wiser. She was starting to learn complicated math problems and reading actual chapter books and could help with the adults down at the docks.

For this Valintines day, Kairi also learned something more about the chocolates. Or more importantly, a specific chocolate. Apparently, there was a big chocolate that you were supposed to give to one boy. It meant you liked this boy much. She asked her mommy about it.

The woman gently smiled and replied, "Of course. That's the chocolate I've been making your father for nearly thirty years." And she patted Kairi's head and went back to sorting out some small slips of paper.

Kairi pondered about this information. You could give all the chocolates you wanted, but you could only give one boy a big chocolate. After thinking about it for about an hour, it still did not make that much sense to her. Okay, it made a little sense. Mommy loved Daddy more then any other boy. Therefore, the boy she like the most deserves a chocolate. But that was the problem.

Who did she like the most?

It was narrowed down to two. No, did not narrow down. There was only two. But it was a big two.

There was Sora and there was Riku. She understood that for everyone one girl there was one boy. And for every one girl there was one boy (It was how all the stories went, after all).

But she really did not see that. They were her friends. Not like…Mommy and Daddy. To follow tradition, she had to pick one. She heard a suggestion of flipping a coin, but that seemed lazy. She should be able to choose. Kairi also thought about not making a chocolate like that. However, it seemed now she needed to make one! A special one for someone…special.

What made Kairi's choose was not by her hand, but by another's. A day before Valintines day, another girl on the island gave Riku her big chocolate. She was in the same class as Riku and he accepted the chocolate. Sora did not get any early ones, so Kairi could actually make a big chocolate with her mother and make sure it was milk chocolate!

Kairi had a perfect plan! It made sense now! What she could do to be totally fair and everyone would be happy.

After giving her big chocolate to Sora last year, Riku had been…moody. He was a bit meaner to Sora and a bit quieter to Kairi. It was subtle, but hanging around them for five years made her notice their little emotional tendencies. Kairi at first did not understand. Along with the other girl, Riku got another big chocolate from an admirer and while Sora did get more chocolates in total, his only big one was the one he got from Kairi. Riku eventually got over it in a couple months, but the moodiness came back right around the time the holiday approached. Kairi hope her treat would cheer him up!

"Hey Kairi!" A familiar call came from a familiar brown-haired person. Kairi blinked and waved to Sora and Tidus as they approached. She waited for them to approach and already saw their eyes were on her basket.

"So, got us anything?" Tidus asked. Sora nodded eagerly. Kairi simply giggled, but reached into her carrying case and pulled out two chocolates (she knew whose was who's by heart). The two boys practically pounced on her hands and quickly unwrapped their treat. She had a feeling that any treats they got from school their parents told them to eat it for later.

Tidus took a bite, but Sora looked down at his with disappointed, "Hey Kairi." Sora asked.

"Yes?" Kairi asked, knowing what the question would probably be.

"My chocolate is the same size as Tidus's." Sora looked over at Tidus's. Not so much now as Tidus already ate his in half. Tidus had no problem with his chocolate being the same size as Sora.

"Yah, I know." Kairi replied calmly.

"But…but…" Sora ended with a whine of, "But why?"

"Because it's Riku's turn." Kairi answer came out simple.

"Oh." Sora seemed content with that answer. It only lasted five seconds, "But he got another big chocolate from a girl at school." It was clear in Sora's mind that because Riku was getting an extra big chocolate, he should get the same amount!

Clearly, Kairi did not believe that. "So?"

"Well…um," Sora scratched his head, clearly trying to figure out a better answer then him simply wanting another extra big chocolate.

Kairi pondered a bit for a better answer as well. She got to her conclusion first, "What if you were a girl and I was a boy?" She suddenly exclaimed

"Wait, what?" Tidus remarked around his mouthful of chocolate. He had only been slightly paying attention to the conversation, more thinking about how many other handfuls of chocolate he would get today. It seemed the thought of Kairi being a boy and Sora being a girl was a confusing subject.

"Wouldn't it be unfair if you kept giving me chocolates?" Kairi replied to Sora, putting a slight solemn tone to her words.

Sora looked ready to rebuttal, but he let out a whoosh of air in surrender, "…I guess you're right. That would be unfair."

"See?" Kairi knew Sora did not understand completely what she was getting at, but Daddy said girls mature faster then boys, and Sora's mom always said Sora was a little behind everyone, so one day he would catch up. "Besides," Kairi decided to add this part, knowing it would make Sora feel a little better about the situation, "You know you'll get the chocolate next year."

"Yep!" Sora cheered, all confusing thoughts erased since it was guaranteed that he would come out on top next year. He quickly grabbed Kairi free hand and pulled her away. "Come on, I'll take you to Riku. He's been grouchy all week. Mom says chocolate makes everyone happy, so maybe he'll get better 'cause of the chocolate." Oblivious to the fact that the reason he was grouchy was because of the said chocolate, Sora paused only a moment so both of them could say bye to Tidus properly. He already finished his chocolate and shoved the wrapper down his pants.

(After giving a farewell, Tidus gazed around the island, no doubt looking for Selphie in hopes she brought some treats.)

On the way to their destination, Sora asked, "Hey Kairi?"

"Yah?"

"Why isn't Riku the girl? Everyone use to mistake him for a girl! Not me!" Sora finished with an angry pout facing to the ground. He was probably thinking how he would look as a girl. Kairi briefly thought of it, too, but could not form an image. She always thought Sora was very cute…in a boyish way. Nothing about Sora read "girl." Childish, maybe. Riku was pretty like a girl, but he acted too macho to be girly.

Kairi snickered, but quickly stated, "Oh, well, I was switching view points with you."

"Whah?" Sora asked, blinking slightly and gazed at Kairi with new curiosity.

"You know, um," Now what did Daddy always call it? "Wearing someone else shoes!" That was not the exact words, but she hoped it was close enough for him to understand, "Well, you were the shoes then needed to be switched with. My shoes for yours. So, that includes everything, too. Understand?" Kairi did not understand the analogy much, but her father used it all the time.

Sora's eyes brightened as he nodded, "Oh, okay! Mom makes me do that all the time. I guess I can see it now. I wouldn't want to be mean, either." Kairi nodded back, sharing an identical grin with Sora. The continued on their path to their older friend. Yet again, Sora called her name, "Hey Kairi?"

"Yah?"

"If I was a girl, would I have to really give chocolate to…boys?" Sora asked. Kairi would not be surprised of the concept was all but allude to her friend.

"Well, I guess not." Kairi remarked, but sent him a naughty grin, "Though then I wouldn't get you anything for White Day!" She jeered at him.

"Wha?" Sora looked disappointed, as if he was the one that really wanted a silly little gift. A pout appeared on Sora's face, his eyes going a little cross in concentration. Kairi merely chuckled, running in front of him to stop him with a hug. He must have liked the gesture; he returned the affection. After a few moments in the embrace, Sora mumbled nearly in her hair, "It's a stupid tradition."

"What, getting me a gift in return?" She looked up at him with feign disappointment. She knew what he was referring to, but he was sad and she wanted to lighten his mood.

"No!" He quickly shouted to defend himself. Once he saw Kairi was giggling again, he huffed lightly. Sora took two steps away to back out of the hug, but kept his fingertips just touching her shoulders. He then stated out-of-character seriously, "That…there is only one chocolate that has to be special for just one other person."

"Huh?" Kairi asked curiously, keeping her eyes trained on his face. She thought he was going to complain about the gift giving in general, but this seemed a little deeper.

"…I love lots of people." Sora remarked quietly, "Why does anyone have to choose one special person?" Sora was not really staring at her, but Kairi had a feeling he was not really asking her, anyways. As it was, Kairi did not have an answer to give. Well, she sort of did. A forming answer now that she was older and was starting to see that girls and boys were different then just boys being rougher and girls not like getting dirty. She saw how the older kids and adults were together, her main influence being her parents. Everyone had someone they belonged to. Something that was different then loving your family and loving your friends. She also read it in stories. A boy and a girl. Kairi always figured boys did not think about that sort of stuff yet. But maybe Sora did.

Besides, they way that Sora was looking up at the sky and the rare look on his face…to Kairi; it was very alien on Sora. And it did not belong. Kairi was not afraid, but she felt some sort of uncomfortable feeling that she did not have a name for as of yet.

"If I really liked two or more people, I'd give them whatever they wanted." He said lightly, distantly.

Kairi was at a lost for words for a moment. She did not know how to reply. There was this feeling inside her gut. But she quickly put a smile on her face. "Now you would just be spoiling them!" Kairi teases lightly, keeping her smile wide in order to hide the bit of wetness in her eyes. She wanted to hide the bad feeling she felt, the emotion she identify as grief, because it hurts like sadness but it has elements of dread mixed with it. Kairi wanted to forgot the troubling emotion and keep Sora away from his melancholy.

Sora blinked at her comment, then opened his mouth, "Hey, would not be!"

"Yep." Kairi cheered, walking ahead, bouncing on the ball of her feet and placing the heels of her palms against her hips while raising her fingers up to the sky; a dainty position, "Just like your mom spoils you!" Kairi said in a tattle-tale voice.

"She does not!"

"Spoiled braaat!" Kairi sang out.

"Kairi!" That was a whine from Sora.

Kairi turned around and grinned, "Just kidding!" She flashed him an honest smile now, already knowing that he was toughly distracted. She did not mean anything she said; she just knew that it would make Sora stop being sad. "Now, common, we have to cheer up Riku!" And off she went, bare-feet touching the bridge. She heard Sora yell at her and knew he would catch up to her in a matter of seconds. Sora's becoming a much faster runner then Kairi. It did not matter much: Kairi had a head start and was off the bridge and on the little island, calling for Riku.

The oldest boy's back was turned away from her, but he hopped down from his perch. Sora's own feet made it across the wood bridge, standing a few inches behind Kairi has he waited for his best friend to approach. Riku turned to the two blue-eyed kids with a sour frown under his eyes, "What? You gonna brag?" He jeered.

"Bout What?" Poor Sora was totally clueless as he quickly pondered on what braggable things Riku could be talking about.

"Oh!" Kairi huffed out angrily and would stop this nonsense right now! The girl strutted over to Riku. The act must have surprised the older boy, since he eyes went wide as he watched her march up to him. She then proudly showed the large chocolate for him. "This is yours." She stated easily, "Though I don't know if you deserve it."

At first, Riku blinked, probably not sure why there was excitement over the treat. But Sora cheerfully jeered, "That's her biiig chocolate!" To show it was true, he waved around his slightly melted treat.

Riku blinked again, his mouth this time opening in an "oh" shape and his eyes light up. Kairi liked that look. But it was over before his eyes narrowed hard and he stated harshly, "I don't need your pity."

That had hurt. A lot. "It's not about pity!" Kairi paused and blinked, hating how angry she sounded right now. She was just upset, "I…wanted you to have the chocolate." She controlled her voice better, pleading just a little.

"Riku! You can't just not accept!" Sora piped, seeing how bad both Riku and Kairi were off. Remember, you just accept gifts!" Sora seemed to still remember those years Riku spoke a couple years ago when they were much younger children. He probably would have yelled some more, but Kairi turned back and shook his head. She saw Sora blink, but soon his expression dropped ad he slumped in defeat. Kairi never would have thought Sora would have surrendered, but the seriousness of the conversation they had before sort of made her rethink about the seriousness of Sora. Maybe he did know what was going on.

"You don't have to accept it…I understand." Kairi mumbled, setting the candy to the side and lowering her head before turning away. She heard Sora make a disappointing noise next to her, but she did not see what other gestures he gave to Riku.

And she really understood it. When she came to the island at first, she received a lot of pity. As a very young girl, she did not understand the sad looks directed to her way as she did now. There was no pity for Riku, honestly. Perhaps her choice on last year was based on pity: Sora had no big chocolate. But she already admitted to herself it was an excuse to choose. Because choosing was harder then she thought.

"Hey," Kairi blinked and turned back to Riku, wondering if Riku was feeling better or worst or was going to out-right reject the gift, "You…mean it, then?" Riku asked. There was a slight nervousness to him, and Kairi found it completely adorable. Riku was older and nothing about him physically was cute anymore. But sometimes he did the little things that made Kairi want to giggle and play with his hair like she use to.

But she understood she could not play like that now that they were older. So instead of cooing about him, she simply replied, "Well, yah." And Kairi meant it. Kairi loved Riku and his happiness meant the world to her. Mommy always said that the reason she was happy was because she always made Daddy happy. Kairi wanted to do that. Make them happy did make her happy.

"Well, okay, then." Riku replies quietly and thoughtfully. He then turned a grin to Sora. "I got the big chocolate this year, Sora."

Sora, always hating to have a one up, quickly jumped to speak. "Hey, she's just being fair!" He whined just a little too much for his age. It did not help that he balled his hands into fist, "And I'm getting one next year! That's how it works!"

Kairi rolled her eyes and started to threaten that she would not give either of them a chocolate next year if they could not behavior. But it was an empty threat. The way Riku grinned and Sora pouted showed there was no deep hurt anymore.

This was how it should be.

* * *

In the evening when everyone headed back to the main island, the trio of friends parted on jolly terms. Kairi's heart felt lighter as all the worry she felt about today vanished. But, she did not know.

Sora and Kairi did not see the look Riku sent the both of them when he saw them hugging and talking quietly to one another while still keeping each other held in arm's length of each other, even if it was about a mixture of silliness and seriously over the day and not what the day was meant for. Riku did not hear the conversation and simply read the body-language.

Sora understood the reason why Kairi should not choose favorites, even if his was more of an open and childish reason. They simply wanted to celebrate the holiday.

Riku did not.

(V)

Kairi was no chef. While threading a needle was a cinch to her, something as simple as making marshmallow treats took a recipe, just as a safety net to make sure each step was performed right. Her hands were nimble and steady, but with sewing or mending she could move away from her project to greet a friend or chat for a few seconds without it burning or making a mess.

This year she had asked her mother to leave her alone. Of course, the woman hovered in the living room reading a book, but Kairi was glad she did not ask, 'Do you need any help, Kairi?' Every time Kairi bumped a pot or dropped something off the floor. But she had a feeling that the woman was giggling in the other room. Gosh, she was twelve, after all! She was going to be a teenager next year!

But she had everything laid out; the chocolate shells, with the big heart one laid to the side. She was about ready to take the chocolate off the stove (there was a layer of cocoa burnt on the bottom, but none of it would fall in her delights so she simply made sure not to scrape the bottom). Kairi grabbed for the pot, but hearing a call of "Pot holders!" from the living room (Thank you mom and your psychic powers!) made Kairi double back and grab the thick piece of cloth. And she carefully dumped the chocolate into the shell molds. To make it easier on herself, she decided to make them all milk chocolate. Riku never said he did not like milk chocolate! So, one of the shells was filled with some simple lemon pudding. It was her first attempt, after all, so she went with something basic.

She then went over to the big heart-shape mold and poured the chocolate in. Happy with her mold, she smiled and started to load them all in the ice-box. It would only take a few minutes for the chocolates to form. Now, for her favorite part.

There were a few things that Kairi was good at in food preparation that did not involved cooking; the decorating part. It technically was not cooking-cooking, but it involved food and presentation and she did it well. She picked out traditional red wrapping with cute little red ribbed to keep the treats safe. Of course, most of the boys she gave it to did not care for the little touches she put onto it. What took her over an hour to organizing and prepare for was torn apart and gulped down in under a minute. They did not care how the chocolate look or what it came in as; all they care about was how it tasted and who it came from. But this was part of the way Kairi really put her heart into it. Each little treat was given love.

She set extra chocolate bowls and mixing dishes to the side next to the sink. She organized her wrappings and ties and bows and additional pieces of candy all around the kitchen table, leaving plenty of room to put the cooking shells. Think of the shells, she glace at the time. They would be almost done!

Kairi eagerly walked over to the fridge and pulled out her shells, one hand holding the lined moles of her smaller shell and the other hand holding her big one. With a bump of her hip to close the door, she hummed here way over to the table. Grinning happily, she pulled off the covering on her chocolate. Her blinding smile changed to a small 'o.' Kairi closed her mouth and tilted her head a little the side. The girl took a large intake of breath before letting out a loud yell of, "Mooom?"

"You forgot to layer the outside of the shells first, didn't you?" A voice came from the living room.

"I know, but-"

"You especially have to layer the filling one or else it'll come out like tie-die or it will sink to the bottom or float the top." The loving voice calmly explained.

Kairi let out a disappointing sigh, though a brief flash of annoyance appeared after she swore she heard chuckling from her father's study. Well, he would not be getting a chocolate from her…or, better yet, he can take on of the screwy ones she made! Keeping the threat to herself and knowing full well she was not going to implement it; Kairi sighed and looked at her imperfect treats. Most of them looked fine. Though nothing spectacular. Especially with the air bubbles and such. And the treat for Riku was…colorful, at least.

Kairi let out a sigh of defeat. Oh, who was she kidding?

But as quick as the defeat hit, a wave of a challenged filtered through her as she pulled up her gloves again. The great thing about chocolate was if you mess up, you can re-melt it and made a different shape. Of course, it was harder to melt the one with the filling back to the right consistency. Kairi decided to mix it all together, make some sort of flavored chocolate, and then give it a filling.

(V)

Kairi did not celebrate her eighth year; she was gone without her heart during that time. She could not go down to the store to by any chocolate (It was not there anymore). She had no kitchen available to her to heat and cooled the treats (She was not near any proper kitchens). She could not life a finger to give the love it needed (Her heart was lost in another's body, leaving her own helpless).

Even though Kairi did not participate, a month right after her chocolate should have been made and given, a White Day present was sat in her lap by Riku, hoping yet again this little gift would show her everything he wish he could say.

He picked a dozen white flowers, from Baby's Breath to Roses, one from each world he found. He eventually threw them away in disgust once they became dried up while Kairi stayed as the empty vessel she had been for the last couple of month.

(V)

"Hey Kairi?"

"What?"

"Why did you make an extra chocolate?"

Kairi blinked and looked down at her wrapped packages. She knew how many chocolates she had made. It was the right number. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…you made a lot of chocolate." Selphie asked, carrying her own basket wrapped in home-made wrapping paper.

Kairi did a double take back to her own treats, "I think we have the same bit of chocolate."

"Okay," Selphie commented, as if thinking of asking something else. Then seemed to think better. "Oh well." Selphie shrugged and continued on to school.

Kairi stopped walking, "You don't believe me." Kairi suddenly stated seriously.

"What?" Selphie paused and looked back at her friend, confused and concerned.

"I made the right amount of chocolates." Kairi replied as direct as before.

"Kairi, it's not a big deal." Selphie replied gently, "Alright?"

Kairi knew it wasn't a big deal. But…it really bugged Kairi. Not because she was upset with Selphie accusing her of something. She felt upset at…herself. It was the best batch she had made so far. "Here, I wanna count." And without watching if Selphie stopped, Kairi knelt down and placed her basket on the ground in front of her. She carefully pulled out each chocolate, going over the list in her head. Many were for facility members of the school (it seemed a little more personal if the Mayor's daughter brought them with her and handed them out), then there were many little friendly chocolates, including two for Wakka and Tidus (she decorated them with little bows). Satisfied, she glanced up at Selphie. "See? Right amount.

"But that's still extra." Selphie said, surprising carefully.

Oh right! Kairi reached into a pocket and found that special one she made, a warm smile growing on her face. "No, the big chocolate is for Riku." She looked at the chocolate fondly. This year she was especially proud; she made her own home-made filling. It was actually whipped chocolate, but it still was a filling and sort of had a marshmallow taste without the chewiness. "If he came home today…wouldn't it be nice if he had one?" She had debated a long time for that decision. Kairi knew by now it was expected of her to make a love-chocolate for some boy. But…her favorite boy was not here. It may seem like a silly thing to do, but she just couldn't…replace him. Riku would be back one day and he deserved to know that someone thought him above everyone else and thought of him while he was away.

Selphie had teased her yesterday about making a chocolate for a boy who was not around, but Selphie actually held a frown on her face from her direction. "But Kairi, look." Selphie reached into Kairi basket, pulling out one more item.

Kairi looked at it, then blinked. "What's the problem?" She asked, but what she thought was, 'Where did that come from?'

Selphie sighed, but soon put on a bright smile, "So, who's this one for?"

Kairi blinked and recounted her chocolates. A list in her head. Everyone was checked off. But…nobody she knew had that chocolate. It was not even wrapped that specially, either. No bow, no decorations. Though, now staring at the chocolate, it was lighter then all the other chocolates. Who was it for, indeed? "I…I guess I made an extra." Kairi finally said.

"Well, it's good you did, anyways." Selphie commented lightly, whether she was disinterested with the subject or interested in distracting Kairi to be back to her chipper self. "You could always give it to someone you might have forgotten about."

Something about those words stung in Kairi. "Oh yah…well, better get going to school!" Kairi said as cheerfully as she could. The girls walked together the rest of the way, Selphie doing most of the talking while Kairi simply looked down at her basket, only giving Selphie half-answers.

Someone she forgot about…

Kairi gave out most of her chocolates, except for two. She took home the love chocolate saved for Riku (He did not appear today) and the courtesy chocolate she made for…someone else. At the end of the day, all she could remembered were blue eyes, a red shirt, and yellow shoes. But everything else was a black-and-white void. It did not matter. He didn't show up, either.

(V)

It had been exactly a decade she had first started to celebrated the holiday. Kairi barley remember the first couple ones, besides what her mother told her. But the last half a decade were more familiar. However, none of her experience dealt with the scene before her. Upon arriving at the island, Kairi was surprised to see her friend, up in a tree, with her tradition basket to her side. "Hey…Selphie?" Kairi asked.

"Hi Kairi!" Selphie cheered a little louder then she probably should have; the tree was not that high up. "How are you?"

"What are you doing up there?"

"Well, I have this idea, you see." Selphie started, scratching under her chin. Kairi brought up a hand to cover the smile that appeared. She knew this was going be funny. "I decided that-"

"Hey Selphie, why are you in a tree?" Selphie and Kairi turned to look back at Wakka and Tidus. Wakka held a ball under his side while Tidus was carrying a picnic for everyone today. They had all agreed that since today was targeted for lovers, they would celebrate their friendship. Of course, some of the friends were romantically closer then others, but there had been over a year absence for a little under half the group. And now that enough time for proper reintroductions ran and everything was familiar again, it was the perfect day to get away and pretend to be friends again.

It appeared Selphie took the idea to heart. She grind like a maniac at the two boys and shouted out, "Well, I decided to take a queue from Kairi in that I'm not going to choose the same favorites out of you two for whom gets the big chocolate ." Selphie crossed her arms over her chest and state, "You guys are going to have to perform a test."

Kairi hid back a laugh as Tidus shook his head, replying, "But you never gave us a big chocolate before."

"Yah, you always gave it to whichever teacher you like the most." Wakka also comment quietly, finding that spinning his blue ball was a lot more interesting then Selphie in a tree.

Selphie looked to be ignoring their comments as she rose a hand up and proclaimed. "I am being more awesome about it!"

"…You gave it to the janitor once…" Tidus remarked frowning at the seemly unpleasant memory.

"So, here is the plan." Selphie pulled on a string, lifting up a box that had been before hidden by the tree-leaves, "You are going to clime the tree. I am going to be rocking it and occasionally throwing water balloons at you." She reached into the box and tossed one into the air. "I filled them with washable paint. Just so I know how many hit you. I might count points off. Haven't decided how that is gonna work. Either way, if you can get up to the top of the tree to me, then you win. Understand?" Before anyone let a word out, Selphie added on more point, "Oh, and anyone can participate. Even Kairi!" The brunette grinned and gave a big wave to her female friend.

Tidus glanced back at Kairi with a large amount of confusing. The red-head could only shrug while Wakka commented up, "But…the chocolates' a gift."

Even from the distance, the trio of friends on the ground saw Selphie's green eyes narrow as she sneered, "You want your chocolates? YOU HAVE TO EARN THEM!"

Tidus let out a questioning sound while Wakka this time turned to look at Kairi for guidance. The girl could only laugh behind her hands while stating, "Well, don't worry. I won't be in the competition. Okay?" And the boys both let out a loud sigh, but began to warm up as if they were heading to practice.

At soon as Tidus and Wakka accepted their fate and jumped onto the bottom of the tree, Sora and Riku approaching. Kairi blinked, but quickly gave them a warm smile. She quickly turned back and decided to watch the amusement and let the boys try to figure out what was going on. That and she did not want them to think she was paying close attention to them…yet. Yes, just pretend it is normal. Well, besides the spectacle that the other Trio of friends were doing. That was a little odd.

"Hey Kairi." Riku politely greeting, standing next to her and looking at the display before him. But Kairi noticed he was looking at her from the corner of his eye. Or more importantly, at the closed basket in her grasp. Kairi also looked at him from the corner of her eye, but she kept a light smile on her face.

Sora, on the other hand, paid attention to what was in front of him then what was covered from his eyes. "Um…what…what are they all doing?" He asked, waving his hands towards the other three.

"Apparently, Selphie wants all the boys-no, all the boys and girls-to prove themselves worthy of her chocolate." Kairi replied simply.

Sora blinked, "Really?" He did not seem to understand the reason. "But they are supposed to be gifts."

"I can see that." Riku nodded, grabbing his chin as if thinking.

"Oh." Kairi asked with a chuckle. She was very interested to know where this was going.

"Well, Selphie might not know the difference between Starboard and Portside, but she does know how to make some pretty good chocolates." Riku commented lightly.

Kairi looked back at innocently. Kairi knew her strong point was not in a kitchen (surprisingly, Sora excelled in that field), but she knew that neither boy any time soon was going to climb up to get dosed by paint just yet.

Sora turn to look at her, "Are we going to have to do something like that for you?"

Kairi giggled out loud, "Nah. That would be too much effort."

Sora let out a breath of relief, but leaned close to Kairi and exclaimed, "'Cause I would, if you wanted me to!" Clearly, knowing that he would not need to perform something asinine, he was happy to say that he would. Kairi laughed at his eagerness while Riku rolled his eyes and did not say anything.

"Anyways, I know what you guys want, so…" Kairi quickly knelt down and slung off her back pack to look for the prizes she would be giving. She reached in and shuffled around for her chocolates. This year, she really did not go much on the wrapping, but she did put a bit of effort into the pretty little patterns on the treats she made this year. In each up-turned hand she supported a bag and held them out to each boy. They took it and both had various looks of surprise at seeing not one, but two chocolates in each bag. The only way the realized that three of them were larger then they should be was because in Sora's bag one of the chocolates dwarfed the other. "There you go. Happy Valintines Day." Kairi said before standing up, brushing off her knees with one hand before strapping the bag back to its original position.

Kairi had to say she was proud that she left the speechless.

"That's four chocolates." Riku commented

"All together." Sora also commented

"Yes." Kairi agreed quickly back.

"But, there is two chocolates, each." Sora paused heavily after certain words.

"Yep." A nod of red hair with the statement.

"With each of us having at least one love chocolate." Sora continued on.

"Uh-huh." No, she was waiting for them to get where they needed to be.

"But…you are only supposed to give each of us one chocolate." Sora seemed to be trying to explain how the holiday worked when out of the three of them, Kairi knew it the best.

Before another yes could get through, Riku stumbled on from where Sora began, "And give only one person a large chocolate." He may have said the words, but he never took his eyes away from his two rather large treats.

"Well, the two on the top are the ones I made this year, which I decided that I really don't care and if I wanna give you two jumbo chocolate, I will." Kairi began; wrapping her arms behind her back in a familiar gesture that was no particular her own. "I made the two other chocolates during the time you were gone. The love chocolate was for Riku, since it was your turn. Now, I kept them in my freeze, for when you and Riku came home."

"Ah, that's very considerate-" Riku started, a bit of a smile o his face.

"But then instead of either of you coming home, you left me all by myself. Without telling me what was going on. Instead of visiting. Not even once. Especially you, Riku." Riku's smile quickly disappeared and he just gapped at her for a moment.

Sora quickly jumped to their male friend's defense. "Okay, but Kairi, I was asleep and Riku was-"

"And instead of coming and checking on me once either of you could," Kairi finished on, a hard smile gracing her usually sweet features yet kept her voice sugar-sweet, "And after missing you two for a year, I have to confront Roxas' "Best Friend," On the two last words, Kairi made quotation marks with her fingers to emphasizes her point. And the point was not about the confrontation, just the meaning of the word best friend (Naminé told her things, after all), "Who not only successfully kidnaps me in his second attempt after someone," Kairi rolled her eyes at Riku, who quickly found the sky rather interesting, "Simply left me in a strange world, but the forlorn pyro-manic looses me. To an even crazier psychopath. Crazier then someone who wields fire like he wields his wheels." Each pause extended long and hard, making each boy flinch. She then wrapped her arms around her upper body and cocked her hips to one side every so slightly, clearly meaning business as her eyes narrowed, "And then, you guys go and defeat the bad-guy without me."

"It's not our fault that the corridor closed." Riku stated calmly, looking away with some embarrassment.

"But, even after all of that, I thought for a while." She began serenely, "When I thought about it, I suppose it is fair. I did fall asleep myself for the one prior, so I figured that evens out." She stated sweetly, not wanting to mention that if she never had fallen asleep, then the two of them would not have fought each other and seriously could have resulted in one of them dying. Every time she mentioned that, the two would fall over each other to say it was not her fault. That was something they did not need to defend themselves and her about, "So those make up for when I slept. And you did eventually come and rescue me, even though I had to make sure you two saw each other heart-deep instead of skin deep, but you still came, so thank you. A lot."

Both boys then fell silent in front of her and shared different shades of guilt. Sora's manifested in nervousness and a pout. Riku's body stiffed and a slight clinch of his fingers. The boy refused to look at her. Her own guilt appeared as a bite of the lip and as she looked now, a smile on her lips but her eyes were dark like storm-clouds.

"Kairi…" Riku called out weakly, closing his mouth after speaking her name. He opened his mouth again to continue.

Kairi would have none of that, "So, enjoy it." She gently stated, ending any other conversation that should arise. Because even thought she had stated facts and even thought she had been hurt, this was what she wanted. The heartache was worth this very moment.

Her harsher words were just a warning to make sure they never did it again.

"I have one more question." Sora asked, looking a bit nervous at his gift.

"Yes?" Kairi asked gently, prepared for some innocently, but big question that she would have to weave her words carefully.

"Is it still good?" It was an innocent question, but not a big one. "I mean, it was in the freezer for a year. If chocolate is a bit white, you aren't suppose to eat it. Unless it's white chocolate. Then again, maybe it's just some freezer burn or something."

Kairi was taken aback by the so out of place the question fit into the current feel of the conversation. She loved him for it. Her expression brightened before it changed to plan mischievous, "Well, if you don't want it, Sora, I'll be happy to give it to someone who will." She let herself had one more moment of teasing.

Riku may have housed a lot more pain then Sora, but he still had the quickest wit out of all of them and already smiled with the reply of, "I'll be happy to take it, Kairi." Riku leaned slightly to Kairi. He smile may have said, 'I'm smooth,' but his eyes said, 'I'm sorry.'

"No no no! I like it, I like it!" Sora quickly brought his back to his chest, defending it with his life. It caused his older and younger peer to giggle and everything…got better.

"Alright, I am going to go check on Selphie to see if she has accidentally killed anyone yet." And in a childhood gesture, she put the back of her hands against her hips and leaned forward, "And you guys better appreciate those! Because you are not getting a double dose of chocolate again!"

"Yes ma'am!" Sora cheered out.

The girl chuckled as she let them thinking she left them to their own devices. The two boys took a seat to watch the waves while Kairi choose to double back and lean against the tree, happy that all the muddleness had settled itself.

"You notice she gave me two love chocolates?" Riku's voice expressed his clear pleasure in that.

"That has nothing to do with her liking you more then me." Sora commented around his bit of chocolate.

"Yah, we both know the truth."

They were still both idiots, but it was okay. As long as they were here, it was okay.

Kairi was content with listening them for a few moments, the crackling sound of the wrapping being moved around while in the distant hearing Selphie laugh like a lunatic as she got another coconut aimed just right.

"I like this better, too." Sora stated after finishing one of his treats.

"What?" Riku asked, not yet opening his bag.

"Us getting chocolates at the same time." Sora said innocently, licking the tips of his fingers for any chocolate he missed. "And if I was a girl, I would have made you some, too."

"Thanks." Then the words finally caught up to Riku, "Wait, what?"

Kairi giggled from her hiding spot.

* * *

For the record, the use of Whiskey was not my choice. The internet chose it. I did not know what to put in the box, so I got a random word generator. Not a lie, Whiskey was the first word to pop up. I tried some other words, but scrolling through twenty five more, none of them were close to anything that could be found in floating in a crate (minus being someone's body: I did get a lot of job titles popping up). So, enjoy the reference for Tidus' dad.

As I wrote this, there was a lot of closeness between Riku and Kairi, but it was not intentional. It is appropriate for the characters, though. What I figured is Sora does not understand what the day really means in his younger years except as a competition with Riku.

This was a lot longer then I thought it was going to come out, but I wanted it to be all together. So sorry for the mini-fic instead of a long drabble! It's about twenty pages long! God, this is gonna be a year behind soon!


	15. White Day Part 2

Well, if the last one was about the Japanese Valintines day tradition, you can guess this follows the Japanese tradition of White Day! I am not unusually jumping on the ban wagon of cultures, but I think these duel holidays are a cute concept.

* * *

Riku stumbled along the beach, groggily rubbing his eyes. It had to be about 5:49 in the morning and he heavily debated about killing Sora this time. He called about a half hour ago and said there was an emergency. Riku had asked if it involved anything to threaten the universe. Sora said no, but it still was a big emergency, so he better come! Sora then hung up the phone and refused to answer it the two times Riku tried to call back.

Needless to say, Riku was a bit…pissy.

It did not help Riku's attitude improve when he saw Sora, in nothing but a pair of sweat pants…and everything inch of those pants, skin, and head of hair covered in various degrees of sand, dirt, seaweed, and what Riku thought was a shell in his hair. Oh, and his feet were digging right into the surf, not caring if the fridges of his clothing were getting soaked. No, nothing attractive about this.

"Oh, there you are Riku." Sora replied calmly, not looking in trouble, "What kept you?"

Pissy just moved up to exasperation, "What kept me?" His eye slightly twitched, "My bed, Sora. You know, where I sleep?" Sora knew damn well that Riku had trouble sleeping and it was not healthy (for Riku and the person who woke him up) to wake up Riku.

"Oh, yah." Sora commented. He paused after the commented, and then grinned up at Riku, "Hey, I need your help."

"What?" Riku stated with slight venom in his voice. In the state Sora was in, he indeed need some help. But Riku was picturing other, harmful ways to help Sora.

"Well, I'm trying to make Kairi a present." Sora stated, then went back to his hands.

Riku blinked, "What?" The annoyance dissipated and the confusion came in. "What present?" Was it Kairi's birthday? And then his sleepy brain caught up, "For White Day?" A little bit of the annoyance crept back in.

"Well, yah, it's today, don't you know." Sora stated as if it was obvious. He rose up his hands and seemed to be trying to thread something, "Oh, how does Kairi do this?"

"You are making her what, exactly?" Riku trying to figure out out the mess in Sora's hand. It had a string and had some sea shells.

"A necklace." Sora stated, now bearing his own set of irritation when he tried yet again to strum a sea shell on the cord, "Mom said they were the most popular gift, and Kairi likes it when we put thoughts about it so-ouch!" Sora dropped the mess of jewelry before bringing his finger to his lips, sucking on the dirty finger. He pulled it out and inspected the damage, "It's…not going so well." He sighed and pouted out, looking down at the muddle he tried to make.

Riku may have been really tired and really ready to smack Sora up-side the head, but Sora looked hopeless in an honest way. Adorable, even. So…maybe Sora did need help. Riku rolled his eyes and knelt in front of the younger boy, looking for a piece of cloth. "You certainly are trying." Riku commented lightly. He wanted to be mad, but after everything that happened, seeing Sora act like a kid again was soothing him. Or he was just insanely sleepy. Finding the only suitable wrap was one of the towels Sora had spread around him to help clean and separate the shells, he looked to the cleanliest one. Judging that they were all about the same level of dirty, Riku grabbed the edge of the raggediest one, ripped a piece off, and brushed the back of it against his under-shirt as best he could. After it was decently clean, Riku wrapped the cloth around Sora's finger. The whole time, Sora simply started at Riku and his action quietly. Riku was a bit thankful for that. He did not need to explain his actions and he did not what to as it should be understood after all this time.

After the wound was proper covered for the time, Riku glanced at Sora with a slightly smirk, "Well, I think you are supposed to put little holes…in...the-" Riku stopped in mid speech because the shell in Sora's head decided to crawl. Oh Kingdom Hearts, there was a hermit crab still in that one!

"-it would be cool to make."

"What?" Riku asked, shaking his eyes of the water animal to pay attentions to Sora's words

"I said, I figured since she makes all that stuff for me, it would-what are you doing?" Sora asked after his only-moments-before gentle Riku now quickly stanched his hair. Riku then displayed the bug. "Oh, so that's where that went!" Sora said with some excitement before grabbing the shell from Riku hand only to set the animals among his already sorted shells.

Oh, it was too early to be dealing with this stuff. Riku rubbed his head. "Well…maybe you should not make a necklace."

"But that was the only idea I had!" Sora said with a whine.

"Well, do something else!" Riku suggested with annoyance.

"Like what? I don't want to buy anything and I can't think of anything else to make." Sora sighed and looked like someone kicked his puppy.

Riku himself scrambled for idea, "I don't know, you are good at baking and crap, right? You could make cookies or something."

"Cookies?" Sora asked, eyes going wide.

Riku sighed and began, "You don't have-"

"That's perfect!" Sora interrupted him as he waved his hand wildly in the air as if drowning, "Why didn't I think of that?" Suddenly, he sprang on Riku in what could be described as the text-book definition of a glomp, "Thanks for the idea!" And Sora actually nuzzled Riku under his chin.

"Not a problem." Riku said softly, slightly moving Sora around to fit a little better against him. Moments like this, without anyone around (or only a select few), he let himself stop being Riku, the older best-friend who was forever to push Sora to be better and stronger. He could be tender instead and let himself protect Sora in a more…intimate sense and generally enjoy the sensation of touch without thinking of compromising both of their standing as guys.

"Now can you carry the shells back? My finger still hurts." Sora mumbled somewhere into his chest.

And Riku let out a breath. Sora could be amorous, but he was honest first and tended to break these little moments. "Why do you even want them?" Riku asked irritated because of said broken moment.

"Well, because I spent all morning cleaning them. It would be a waste to get them all dirty again." Sora commented while looking up at Riku. His face suddenly brightened, "Dude, I can totally give them to Kairi, too!"

Riku thought about arguing with the logic, but Sora wanted to give this as a gift. So, Riku surrendered with an irritated sigh and said, "Fine." The 'thank you, Riku,' and the swift kiss on the lips did do for some encourage, making Riku hum in the back of his throat. Of course, it tasted a bit too much like sand for his liking. Come to think of it…

Riku looked down at himself. While Sora was still dirty from the sand, he transferred enough onto Riku to make him look like he spent his morning digging in the earth. This time the older male groaned out in discomfort. Another kiss, on his cheek this time, came with a question, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, nothing." Riku mumbled, quickly putting on his more neutral side, "Now come on, the sun is going to be rising soon and now we both looked like we entered a sand-castle contest."

"Oh, right!" Sora laughed and he rolled away from Riku to stand up, "Guess we gotta make ourselves look presentable, huh?" Sora asked cheerfully as he tried to wipe away some of the sand clinging to his chest. Riku choose to gather up all the shells. Oh, and there was the shell that had the little crustacean on it. Riku picked it up and sighed.

"Riku, come on!" The younger boy called a distant away. Riku choose not to look at the distant, but slightly tossed the little creature back to the surf. Knowing Sora, he would want to give it to Kairi as a pet. As long as Riku made no mention of it, Sora would forget.

(V)

They decided to clean up at Riku's house. Sora's mom maybe more open about things, but she would question why at six in the morning both boys were covered head to toe in sand. Riku's dad would still be asleep. If he did wake up, he would make no comments so long as the boys stayed in Riku's room.

"So, what did you get Kairi?" Sora asked, borrowing one of Riku's old shirts. Riku still had a bunch from before their travels and fit Sora perfectly.

Riku slipped on some day-clothing as he commented, "Well, I was thinking of getting her a shirt or something cloth related, but she said her dad would cover that." He finished zipping up his vest before going over to his drawer and fishing out a pair of socks, "Then I thought about getting her some sort of candy, but I figured that's what the other guys were going to get her-I know Wakka talked about some little cakes he saw-so I scratched those out of the way." He slipped on the finishing touches over his feet.

Since his question was not answered, Sora asked again, "So, what did you get her?"

"I got her…" And Riku mumbled the rest.

"What did you say?" Sora asked louder, grabbing his towel to help clean out his ears.

Riku sighed before answering, knowing he could not beat around the bush about it, "I said I got her…a tea set, with a few other items." Hopefully he would not ask about the other items.

"A set of what?"

"It's a tea set." Riku repeated, before explaining, "Kairi talked about trying to make her own tea and be a better hostess at her home or something. I don't know. I figure she would like it and it has more of a practical use." Riku slightly bit his own tongue at the last part of the last sentence. He did not want to make Sora think he needed to get a practical gift or anything. Sora liked the idea of making some from his heart and while Riku some other time might tease him for it, it was not a good idea to taunt about it the day they had to give these gifts away. Kairi would enjoy a made gift as much as any gift, too. And Kairi would not appreciate if he made Sora a complete mess.

"What else did you get her?" It seemed Sora's mind was on how much instead of thought behind it.

"Well, some flowers and," And Riku thought about the second thing he found while looking at flowers. "Um…a bear. That bear." He pointed to the little white bear sitting on the counter. It had a black nose, but its little solid color eyes were a dark navy color and it held a little white heart in its grasp. Riku turned away to grab it, making sure to hide the blush appearing on his face. No, he was not ready to tell Sora about the bear.

"Aww, and I'm only making her one thing." Sora suddenly exclaimed as he walked over and looked over Riku's shoulder.

The exclamation relaxed Riku a bit and the redness on his face vanished. He still had to clear this throat, just to get his voice back, "Yah, but you could cook for her for a week or something." He did not make any other suggestions since the sun was now up and he wanted to get down to the center of the town before it got really busy. "Let's go."

"Go where?" Sora asked, holding and touching the bear's nose with a little bit of affection.

Riku did a mental victory dance in his head, but kept the cool exterior up. "To pick up the flowers. I kind of have to give those to her today." He paused a moment to observe Sora, "…You keep a hold of the bear, in case we don't stop back here."

(V)

"I think you should get these." Sora commented absently as he looked at some of the pre-made arrangements.

Riku did not bother looking. "That's not the arrangements I ordered." He commented as he waited in line.

"Yah, well, these are better." Sora mumbled.

The older male sighed, but aloud himself to look at the particular arrangements. It was…pretty, but also a bit gaudy and not appropriate for white day. All the flowers might have been white naturally, but someone had fun with feeding them dye, giving all the blossoms unique colors that were pretty by themselves but together were too bright and clashed (especially the almost tie-dyed ones). There were a few white flowers in the mix, but they did nothing to break up the clutter. "You haven't even seen the ones I got." Riku scolded. He turned back and noticed it was his turn.

"Yah, but these are better." Sora repeated.

Riku felt his eye twitch and had to take a deep breath or else he would have hit Sora. He may love Sora, but sometimes…just sometimes. At least the Florist gave him a sympathetic look with a small smile. She, at least, understood Riku suffering and made not comments about it. Upon giving her the slip of paper, she quickly retreated back to pick the arrangement. It was all paid. The lady brought out a grouping of white flowers. There were ten flowers in total, paired together for five different flowers with some green to make the white pop out. It came in a clear vase. It was not terrible expensive because Kairi really hated it when she got flowers that were really expensive and they died a week later, but with the purchase of the vase, there were several packets of flower food. Though Riku knew the girl would really like these.

He came back and displayed the present to Sora. Sora looked it over with a small nod, "Those are pretty, but these are still better." Sora state, indicating to the train-wreck bouquet.

Riku was not in the market to impress Sora. These were to impress Kairi. Yet, a part of him wanted to be right. Because these were indeed pretty flowers prettily arranged. Prettier then the mess Sora wanted to get. "Then why don't you buy them, Sora?" He thought about saying, 'then why don't you date them?' but his spoken line was less retarded sounding.

Sora's eyes suddenly lightened. "Okay!" And he happy grappled the flowers and skipped over to the counter, "It'll count as my second item with the cookies!" The Florist smiled at Sora and accepted Sora's demands on how he wanted wrapped in polka dots. On the rare moment Sora had been distracted if he should get a card or not, the woman again gave Riku a sympathetic look that said, 'It may not be ideal, but what can you do?'

A part of Riku knew he should just let it go and enjoy seeing Sora get into the spirit of things, be happy at how much this was making Sora happy. Jump into the joy, somewhat.

"Hey Riku, can I borrow some money? I left mine at my house."

Yah, this was all a joy fest.

(V)

They finally ended back up at Sora's house when the sun hung the highest. Sora was nice enough to reimbursed Riku for his money. But Sora convinced him they should arrange the flowers together in a unique and combined way so to make a gift from both of them. That meant Sora arranged the bouquet however he wanted, including taking out which flowers he did not like. Which, of course, all of the colorful flowers were kept and at least half of Riku's choices were put to the side. Riku maybe would have been a little more upset, but Sora at least thought of ways to keep the flowers around, even suggesting they could sprinkle the petals around on a tray with the tea set and give it some accents.

But Riku got him back for everything because no matter how much he begged, he would not help the brunet with making the cookies. Okay, he did help to get down the big box of brown sugar, but that was a height issue and he did not think Sora's mom would appreciate her son climbing up on the cabinets. He might be short, but the boy was still a teenager with a lot of weight on him.

So here they were, waiting for the cookies to cool before they would lay out the tea set for a little private snack or whatever (even thought Sora wanted to make actual tea with the set, Riku said it was not polite to use a gift before hand). Sora after just a minute of boredom had grabbed the bear again, since it was the only object Riku let him play with. "So, you think I should set the bear, like around the tea-pot or one of the cups?"

Riku had been watching out of the corner of his eye through the whole process, but now he realized he needed to say something, "Oh, I wouldn't do that."

"Why not?" Riku mumbled a few words under his breath for an answer. "Come again?" Sora's third question popped out.

"The bear is for you…" Riku simply stated, turning away from Sora as much as he could.

"Oh!" Sora said happily, but then he blinked and continued with a, "…Oooh."

Now Riku could not hide the blush that was burning on his face, "Yah. I, ah, thought you would like it." Oh damn, what he was reduced to. Riku had no idea why he bought the stupid thing. He was shopping for the tea-set and saw it looking at him through a window and he instantly thought of Sora. There was no obligatory reasons as to why he bought it. This was for the girls and Sora did not need anything. A pressure fell against Riku. Green eyes looked over to see the happy brunet even happier while curled against his side. "I like it."

"Yah?" Not that Riku needed Sora's approval about a bear to make him feel good, but hell, a victory was a victory.

"Yep!" Riku felt a slight nozzle under his chin that sent really nice shivers down his back.

"Well, alright then." Riku smirked to himself and stretched an arm around Sora. He chuckled lightly. Now, Riku was not one of the more…touchy ones, but this was kind of nice. There was a code he had and catering to Sora's enduringness was one he had to change. Even though he was fine with admitting that the affection for his best friend had change, it was hard to break a decade and a half worth of pattern of beating the crap out of each other. It was probably easier for Sora then Riku; Sora had always been a touchy guy and hugged everyone. Not so much for Riku.

This was nice. Having Sora curled up against his side like some large dog was…awesome. It also helped that the only people that he had to worry about spotting them was Sora's mom or Kairi, but Riku was getting better, honest. Though, Sora usually did not get so snuggly unless…

A loud snore erupted from Sora, which caused Riku to roll his eyes in irritation. Of course, the reason Sora suddenly got all cuddly was because the tool was sleepy. Oh how jolly. Riku let out a sigh and glared down at Sora, "I see how it is. Lead Riku on, then drool on him instead of about him." Fantastic. That's what the dolt got for getting up so early.

Come to think of it…Riku let out a yawn. He felt a bit sleepy as well. Maybe a cat-nap was in order.

(V)

If Kairi had a camera, she would have to take a picture. She was actually half tempted to go ask Sora's mom for one just to capture the moment. Sora laid sprawled along Riku's lap like some sort of large porcupine while Riku, sitting straight up while keeping a hand on Sora's back, had his mouth open and snoring just light.

She knew. She watched for the last 10 minutes.

Did she mention the flowers in Sora's hair? Yep, they were there. A few petals pure white against the brown.

She did not want to wake them, but the tea was getting cold, so she finally cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest, but she could not wipe away the smile gracing her face. Kairi also made sure to swallow the rest of the cookie in her mouth.

Riku, as always, was the first to wake up. He blinked but quickly jolted up to almost standing. This cause Sora to rolled off the older boy's lap. Which then cause Sora to fall half-way off the couch before catching himself on a nearby table. Which caused Riku to instantly reach out to catch his friend. Which caused Sora to shout. Which caused Riku to shout. Which caused Sora to let go of the table and be held up only by his shirt.

Now Kairi doubled wished for a camera.

"Oh, um, hi Kairi!" Sora cheered out once he was slightly straightened back on Riku's lap. His balanced his elbow on the couch to wave at her. Riku grumbled and pushed him up. Sora frowned, but followed the physical instructions. "So, um, when did you get here?"

"I'd say about...8:45." Kairi said sweetly.

Both boys visibly panicked. "What time is it now?" Sora exclaimed.

"It's 9 at night." She replied, still sweet.

Sora let out a cuss word, which made his partners blinked, "Um, pardon me! That was totally not me!"

Riku let out a sigh, him and Kairi automatically knowing it was Sora's blonde half, but looked back at Kairi, "How did you find us?"

"Sora's mom called me and told me you two were spooning on the couch."

Riku glared at her, "She didn't say spooning."

Kairi giggled loudly finally, "But that's what you were doing. Now come on, I already made the tea, cleaned up the flowers and re-heated the cookies. If you want to make this a special day for me, let's have a nice desert before we have to all head back home."

Riku gave her a suspicious look, "You know, you should be disappointed that we fell asleep and forgot to call to tell you." Riku commented but received no answered as the girl skipped back into the kitchen. Okay, she might be a little upset and simply ignoring. "And in case you are and hiding it, I'm saying it's Sora's fault." He was just waiting for the younger male to scowled or pout or complain or tell on him.

But instead, Sora did something complete different, but was still a Sora move. He also skipped to the kitchen, little bear outstretched in his big hands, "Hey Kairi, Riku got me a bear, too." Sora popped his head out of the kitchen to grin back at Riku, "Because he looooves me." And there his head went back in to the other room.

"Awww, it's so cute." Riku's hear the female's voice from the kitchen.

"Can it have its own cup?"

"Sure!"

Riku realized two things in this moment.

One, he was a big sap and it was their entire fault.

Two, he did not understand them or this holiday.

"Riku, drink your tea before it gets cold."

"Yah, okay."

* * *

Well, I kept this under twenty pages! I need to shorten some of these some more! I was trying to put in a bunch of cute Sora/ Riku moments in. Since it's probably my least favorite combination of the trio, I'm trying to be fairer. I do have to say, though, it was cute and fun to write all the little kisses.


	16. Once up a Time: Roxas

So for this, I wanted to try a little different. Just a small Alternate universe story. It has some familiar character. And I wanted to do some kid-centered drabbles. And I realize I'm a year behind. I've decided I can't keep up with it, so I'm going to do as much as I can.

It's explained more in the other two stories, but this is an AU drabble, a theoretical in case Sora, Riku, and Kairi made it off the island and all the worlds were actually one big world or something.

* * *

Roxas was never a social boy. He was the quite kid in the class. In kindergarten, he hardly made any friends and probably the only reason he went forward and not held back was his sister was a healthy girl. In fact, his only true friend was probably his twin sister. He played by himself most of the time, but never minded if some of the friendlier kids invaded his space. This was what happened all through elementary school, only as the grades moved on he had less kids approached him and the only one who really hung onto him was Naminé. He had acquaintances, but no friends. A few of the friendlier and sweeter girls would accept him into their group for project. And he received the last spot for sports in Gym; he was fairly quick and strong. Not picked first-that spot reserved for friends, but before the slower and weaker kids.

Then he came to middle school, and he suddenly became a social outcast. His sister was not available due to assigned to a whole different group of teachers, a different lunch, and they only saw each other for one class. Roxas did not know if she was as bad off as he was, but he never asked. He did not talk about school much at home and his parents never pressured him on it.

He eventually stumbled upon Hayner, Pence, and Olette, or as the general populace called them, the Spaz, the fat-kid, and the nerd. That was fine with Roxas. Everyone called him psycho, since he never gave anyone a friendly look…and he had stabbed a kid in the hand with a knife. That was a lie; some macho jerk had been throwing small pieces of paper and when Roxas got sick of it, he got out of his seat, approached the desk in a rush, and stabbed his pencil through the next ball of paper headed his way with the command of, "Stop it."

Needless to say, his parents got a phone call, an afternoon detention, and Papa bought him a new skateboard (though Dad and Mom made him put it up for a week before Roxas could have it).

The three were friends in middle school school. It started after Roxas and Hayner got into a fight over some stupid thing that Roxas or Hayner never remember. It probably had been stupid, anyways. But the next day, Hayner welcomed him to their table at lunch. Roxas was surprised about the behavior, but for some odd reason, he fell in line with and dragged over with Hayner, laugher on his tongue as well.

"And you know what?" Hayner suddenly announced, "We are not going to be a clique or a group! We'll be a gang! Since there are four of us now, we can do that!" Hayner cheered. It was infections. Roxas smiled, which he never did much outside of home anymore.

Hayner was abrasive, but jovially and loyal to a fault. He had his moments of being a brat, but all he needed was a good shove and he went along with the adventure. Hayner's greatest strength and weakness was he was honest with himself and about everything to a fault. It was something refreshing.

Olette was probably the smartest person he knew. And contrary to her nickname, she was not a nerd, just bright with a strange mix of gentleness and charisma. Olette was simply Olette. Roxas would not be surprised if Olette grew up to be president of a company one day.

If Hayner and Olette were outside the normal, Roxas would say Pence was exactly what he presented himself to be. And if anyone should be labeled as a nerd, it was Pence. Yes, Pence liked to eat, but he was also a happy person. He was content with his world and only desired simply thing.

One day when they were at this place that acted as their head quarter, Roxas suddenly announced to them. "I have three parents." They had been sitting and talking about the apparent Struggle match coming up, and he just felt like being honest. It was like he had kept a huge secret from them all this time and since they were his first friends; they had to the right to know. "As in, they kind of are married to each other and they live together and stuff." Jeez, he was not even sure if they were actually married. Probably not, but he did not think they cheated on each other, so that was probably some sort of common-law thing.

He remember Tera always saying keep their family life to themselves, as if it was something to be ashamed of and while Naminé was proud of their parents, she never really explain the actual aspects of how Mom and Dad and Pops were together. Roxas' friends had asked before. Hayner had asked about why his older sister looked so different from him (Though it came out as: "How can you be related to that gorgeous creature!" He did punch Hayner for that.). Hayner asked if they were half siblings or something. Roxas would brush it off. Sure, Tera was his half sister, but half implied they were somehow cut off from one another. Tera was sometimes weird, but he was as much his sister as Naminé. Olette always asked if she could come over to pick him up for school, but he always declined. It probably hurt her, but he knew it was abnormal. And Olette seemed like a very normal person. True, she did not judge, yet Roxas always imagined her having just two perfect parents. It was not too hard, as Mom was usually the one to go to school with assistants and occasionally Dad. However, Pops usually picked them up. Pence actually had been over to his house for a project. He had given Roxas questioning looks on the three adults, especially getting a little wide-eyed after seeing Dad first kiss Mom on the cheek and giving equal treatment to Pops when he got home from work. Pence never said anything in front of the others (which Roxas was thankful for), but he already figured out him and his sisters correct parentage and had asked a few times where they were from instead of what his parents were. Roxas shrugged about the subject and Pence was nice enough to drop the subject.

His three friends paused in their conceptions of ice cream. But Olette suddenly smiled shyly and said, "So do I, but I don't live with my real mom. She has…problems. But I really like my step mom! She's more like my mom then my real mom really was."

"Well," Pence began, "I don't live with either of my parents. I live with my grandma. I never knew my mom, and my dad died, so she raised me." Pence turned his gaze to Hayner. So did his other two friends.

"Well, um, I have both mine, and they are both awesome," He mumbled while scratching his head, "But I don't know my dad's family real well. Most of them disowned him because my mom's a different race." There was a pause after this, but they all broke out in laughter. It was a serious subject, but the obscurity of talking about it was too real. Roxas never realized until this moment that these three people were his friends, really his friends, and he did not need to hide. Not anymore.

He still did not give Hayner any hints on how to woo Tera, but he did not love Hayner that much.

Through middle school, they stayed friends. By high school, they started to drift apart. Not because they did not like each other anymore; they still hung out on the weekends together, whether for Struggle matches or part-time jobs around town or just eat ice cream together. But high school opened doors for them to other areas and lifestyles. Their nicknames were lost. Hayner became more involved in sports (now called the Spaz, as in being quick); Pence joined various computer and science clubs and found a kinship with other people who had his interested. Olette got a part-time job after school, in hopes to help save up for college and a car. Roxas, at the request of his twin sister, joined theater as a back stage crewmember. He found no reason to say no.

Theater was where he met Xion.

Roxas had been putting up the date for the casting call before school and a dark-haired girl seemly appeared behind him. He jumped when he heard, "So, the play is 'Midsummer's night Dream?'" She asked with curiosity

"Um, yeah." Roxas replied, not really knowing much about the play itself. Naminé knew more about this stuff then him. "You, um, going to try out?" He asked

"Of course."

"Uh…cool. So, which part are you going for?" Roxas looked at the list, not really sure who was who. But he knew one of the big ones, "Um…Titania?"

"Oh no, if I'm doing a part, I'm going to try for Puck!" Xion cheered before walking away.

That was another part Roxas knew…but that was also a boy part. Sure enough, the cast list put up after tryouts, there was her name under Robin Goodfellow. Throughout the production, their friendship began. Xion was the Techie's Actor. While Xion was a lead, she often let her understudy take her place to look backstage at what the crew was doing. And even out-right helping out, usually with Roxas. He could not describe it. They just…bonded. He liked and adored her simply and easily.

During the dress rehearsal for their school while they were setting up props (Xion was already in her costume), Roxas told her quietly, "I have three parents."

Xion paused only for a moment before replying just as quietly, "That's okay. I have none." Roxas learned that Xion lived in a foster home and wore hammy-down clothes for the most part.

His friends told him Xion was like him, except a girl. They both liked to skate board, and listened to the same music, and Xion was even willing to have some mock fights with him. Hell, they never debated about the problems with society and other issues of the nature because they were quite similar (Though the strange part was the reason they came to conclusions were different). Both had explosive outburst of anger when pushed to the breaking point, coincidently, though Roxas never recalled either of them directing it at each other. Of course, they were a little different. Xion was much calmer and held more of a melancholy on and a bit more naive compared to Roxas more stoic and aggressive nature with moments of blunt stupidity. Similar natures, but little differences. And, of course, Roxas was a boy and Xion was a girl.

Then again, sometimes that switched up.

They had a date once. It started for a bet with their supposed rival gang. In the last round, they lost and Roxas, to pay for humiliation, received the task of dressing up as a girl and get a boy to go on a date with "her." He told Xion about his predicament and the girl smiled and said, "Well, if you have to dress up as a girl, I'll dress up as a boy and be your date!" Roxas already knew of Xion's distaste for skirt or frills and figured it would not be so bad if she had to be his date. Roxas took the offer gladly.

And Xion…did make a convince boy. Her hair was cut short and she could be mistaken for a small boy due to being a little immature physical. They helped with each other's makeup beforehand-Xion' spread rouge along his lips and cheeks while Roxas darkened her face with some dirty-brown tan and spread regular foundation on her lips to make them more pale. Roxas did his own mascara while Xion darkened and thickened her eyebrows. Xion helped Roxas with a headband while Roxas did Xion's tie. Looking in the mirror, Roxas was surprised and hated the fact how they could pull this of easily. As much as a convincing boy Xion made, he equally made it as a girl.

The date itself…was rather enjoyable. Roxas was being watched by the Disciplinary Committee (the said rival gang and originators of Roxas' predicament), but they did not know who Xion was: All they saw was a boy the same height as Roxas (who wore the flattest pair of Mary-Janes in his size) in large dress shoes (with souls at least one inch think and lifts inside the shoes to add another) and a fedora.

Roxas had never had a date before. It was an interested, yet equally commonplace experiment. Yet, there was a bit of a thrill to it. Roxas played his part of the reserved party while Xion easily slipped in more of being expressive at the start. But, they laughed a lot and Roxas could not deny it was fun. Roxas even kissed her. He made the move for that one when she brought him home. It was sweet. It was simple. It was nice. It was…

Xion had pulled away with a grin and replied against his ear, "This was fun." He blinked after she opened the door, as any proper gentlemen would. When stepping inside, he was glad that nobody appeared to be in the house (except for Mom and Pops, would were engrossed in their movie and gave him a cheerful hi. He really did not need them to see him in one of Naminé's skirts). He quickly ran up to his room and stared at the retreating figured of Xion. He saw the Disciplinary Committee follower her, but only down the block before heading the opposite way.

Roxas thought about the kiss. It also left him feeling…unfilled. He wondered if he should have kissed Xion again, maybe harder.

His friends and rivals brought the date up the next day, and Xion was nice enough to hang back for a few days so nobody recognized her. The next time they spoke, it was the spring production (It was My Fair Lady, with Xion being Alfred Dolittle). They spoke about the date with some merriment. When asked about this kiss, Xion replied, "It felt funny!" It was her first kiss, too.

Roxas always figured he would get over the awkwardness of that first kiss. That maybe it would mean more to Xion eventually and mean something more to him, too. Maybe it would mean something when they were both grown up. They could finish school, get married, and have kids. He could see it happening.

During the summer, Roxas met Lea, and that fantasy eventually vanished.

While most of his fights passed under the school's radar, the school suggested he get into some sort of community program. It upset him greatly, as he would miss the theater camp he promised to help Xion and Naminé with (Naminé begged their parents it counted as part of the community), but he was forced to build houses with actual juvenile delinquents. Lea himself was a known vandal who also favored shooting off illegal fireworks in abandoned lots. To this day, Roxas still could not explain why he liked the creep.

If Xion was his analogous, Lea was his complementary: While Roxas kept his cool, Lea was explosive with emotions. Roxas thought carefully, Lea just drove straight in every day life. Roxas let people come to him while Lea would jump into the middle of conversation. Ironically, this made them both rude jackasses, though Roxas leaned to prude and Lea to idiot. They both liked to fight for fun and their shared emotion was their short fused, sometimes at each other. However, usually one always pulled the other away from actually becoming too bad.

At the end of that summer, Roxas told Lea, "I have three parents. They share a room."

Lea did no look up from tying his shoes with his short reply of, "And?" The 'and' sounded less like a 'go on' and more like a 'who cares?' It made Roxas feel better that Lea did not care.

Even though he did not go to school, somehow Roxas roped Lea into doing some of the driving for the productions at the school next year. Xion had again scored the part of a male-lead, the Scarecrow for the Wizard of Oz. Xion was at first a little scared of the forward Lea and Lea was a little confused to the oddity of a girl, but apparently they became friends enough where Roxas had to one night drag Tera out of bed to help cover Xion and Lea's bail because, in Xion's words, "He had this really cool idea and it was really funny and we knew you would be against it, but we did not realize that there was no trespassing. Ooops."

He can't remember what they were doing prior to their first kiss. He remembered the events earlier that put them into here. Roxas vividly remembers Lea and Xion talking near his truck and upon seeing Roxas, she gave Lea a little push to Roxas with the loud whisper of, "Go ask him!" He remembered Lea asking for a walk later, after theater. He remembered the sea-salt ice cream. And he remembered when Lea pulled back after the first kiss. He remembered feeling, but not actually thinking. Roxas, however, did remember the second and the third kiss. He lost count after the one, though.

He is slightly embarrassed on how he introduced Lea to his family. It is not the homosexual thing. He's Dad's son, after all. Two out of three parents are men, meaning, unfortunately, they probably do stuff together, too (Though he would not mind Naminé's logic of thinking their concepts were merely accidents involving toilet seats). The idea of like boys is acceptable. Though he liked girls (since he did like Xion) and he never found other boys attractive. Then again, he never felt anyone the way he did Lea, either, so maybe he was not attracted to anything specific and more to specific people. And it's no so much that Lea's that much older then him. His parents are barely a year apart between their ages, but Lea is only one year out of high school, so not too bad.

It comes down to the fact that they catch him with his hand on Lea's zipper while Lea worked on his shirt. Lea survived the encounter, so it was a good start.

Roxas, now at the age of sixteen, the age his parents set off into the world by themselves, already knew he would not live his life so daring. He understood that he lived in a form of dysfunction. Yet, out of all his friends, he probably had one of the best home life. His parents loved him and his sisters without any problem. Olette had two mothers and a father, though her real one was not what a mother should be, but she was healthy and a stable person. Pence did not have either of his parents, and perhaps he had been spoiled as a kid, but Pence was happy with who he was. That was all that mattered. Hayner did always seem to have a chip on his shoulder about things and perhaps coming from a rejection of being mix ethnicity was the reason, but there were a lot of other things that set Hayner off that were less of a social issue (Such as Roxas steeling the last chili fry). Xion did not have anyone to call family, which is probably why she turned to acting for an outlet. Then again, they say you either have talent or don't, and Xion certainly had a knack for slipping into a role as easily as slipping on clothes. As of yet, Roxas only knew Lea had a sibling, but since the bastard did not have a problem talking about anything else in his life, it was either unimportant to him or a horrid detail that Roxas did not need to know yet. But perhaps without their background, they would not have become a part of Roxas' life. As for himself…

Even though he was not perfect, Roxas had a feeling that he turned out pretty much who he was suppose to be, even if his family was different.

* * *

There will be a long note here. Just a few comments on my feelings on things as well as mentioned of future projects that I hope will get done.

Just like in Don't Count your Beer before you Drink it, Hayner is again bi-racial. Unless we ever see his parents, I can't believe otherwise. Olette and Pence's family situations are based on two people I know; the neighbor kid I baby sat and a friend who I found out was a cousin of mine through marriage.

Second, this was also suppose to have all three kids thoughts on their relationship with their parents in an AU universe all in one chapter. However, it seems it came out something else, in a sense. Roxas's own story was border lining on three pages and I was cutting stuff out to get a smaller drabble, and I knew Tera's was going to be as long from what I started with, so I broke it up into three separate stories for each kid. I still cut out stuff centering around Hayner, Pence, and Olette, but I'm saving it for another story that will center more around Roxas as a one-shot AU.

I like Xion. I was not too sure about her, but after playing and beating 358/2, I do like her. She totally fits with Roxas and Axel. On that note, and while I've read a few stories centering around it, I don't see them as a trio like I write Sora, Kairi, and Riku to be. I will support saying Roxas might have a crush on Xion, but I never saw Xion really being all cutesy all him in the similar manner. Besides, I'm still a big Axel/Roxas and 358/2 just proved to me more, especially with Xion. But, I also believe she is totally (and forgive the expression) their fag-hag. She supports their relationship: Roxas needs a good friend he can talk deep with and Xion fit's the bill well. And I never really agreed with the idea Roxas would go onto hi-jinx with Axel because Roxas seems more responsible. Days supports this. However, Xion is a little more of the adventuring type and has a willingness that Axel would be able to easily convince the girl to follow. She's their adorable little sister! I have a few drabbles ideas centering around that particular trio that I hope one day I can put up.

Continue on with that, I don't write stuff centering around Axel/Roxas as much as I want to. It is actually my favorite pairing to read about. And there is a big reason for it. Especially with the release of BbS…there is an age-gap between Axel and Roxas. It's about nine years by estimation, give or take a year depending on where one wants to place Roxas' and Axel's physical age. Of course, I believe that Roxas is a kick-ass midget and that the only reason Axel maybe top dog is because Roxas lets him (Roxas can easily break his shin if he decided to). It's a really messed-up relationship. I do not subscribe to submissive Roxas. He's sweet only to a select few people, and Axel is not always one of them. However, that's the thing that Axel loves about him. On that note Axel is not some mega-cool player. He's a rebel, to be sure, but he actually more emotionally frail, but hides it all behind passion. And I don't believe Axel is a pedophile. A couple of months ago there were a wave recently stories centering around the age difference of Roxas and Axel, with starting Roxas as a child and Axel older, but stressing that Axel simply loves Roxas. It is bizarre, but tragic and rings close and I don't know yet if I would be brave enough to write something along those lines.

That is the reason I used Lea for Axel. Unlike Sora and Roxas, Lea and Axel are more of the same person. I am not a fan of Ventus/Lea (They, after all, only met each other for a few moments), except as a springboard that originally causes Axel to be friends with Roxas. I can see a story where Lea/Axel is friends with Ven, then meets Ven's little baby brother who is a brat and romantic hi-jinks ensures later on in life.

I hope I haven't talked your ear off!


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